


Let the Darkness Surround

by Varmint



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/M, Insecure Oliver, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Multi, Non-Canon Relationship, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Self-Destruction, Unhealthy Relationships, Victim Blaming, dubious, victim shaming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6493555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varmint/pseuds/Varmint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver Queen had never been caught in a situation as dangerous as this. And he never thought something like this would ever happen. But it has. And now he's in complete servitude to none other than Deathstroke. There's no way for him to escape, not without paying a price much too high. What is the archer to do when the other man's darkness begins to engulf him completely?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Please, stop this! Slade…" Ollie gasped, tears flowing freely from his eyes as the man above him inserted yet another finger into his virgin hole. "I'm b-"

Suddenly there was a hand covering his mouth and the pain Oliver was feeling seemed to double. He didn't have an outlet for it anymore. Instead of screaming to distract himself, he could now feel as the other man prepared him.

"If I were you, Queen, I would keep my mouth quiet. My contractor was very specific on his needs. He wants you to feel pleasure, not pain."

Deathstroke was disgusted with what he was doing. But it wasn't for the reason he thought.

He was disgusted because he completely found himself enjoying the ministrations he was performing on the blonde.

The way his muscular yet lithe body twisted and turned to try and get away from his rough fingers was oddly enticing. The pure and unadulterated fear that vibrated through the other's voice made the Contract Killer feel something he had not felt in an extremely long time.

 _Lust_.

And each and every single whimper of pain that escaped the blue-eyed man's lips only helped further Slade's want.

"P-pleasure?!" Ollie gasped in an almost hysterical voice, struggling with the handcuffs that kept both his hands bound to the bedpost. "How can you find pleasure in this? This is rape!"

A third finger was inserted as soon as the last word left those lips, causing a yelp of pain to escape the already harrowed man.

"Please, Slade… I have a girlfriend. I've got two kids! Why would you be doing this now? Why me?"

And that was when a new feeling coursed through Slade's slightly clouded mind. He had rejoiced in the blonde's begging before. The feeling of power that had overcome him because of the pleas was something that he had not felt before. None of his past kills could ever compare with the power he now had over the once loud mouthed archer.

But as soon as he heard of the other's obligations he felt his blood boil. His movements became rougher and he was sure that the hand he had on Ollie's hip was bound to leave a rather nasty bruise.

 _Possession_.

Later on, when with a clearer head and without a writhing blonde beneath him, Slade would completely understand just what had come over him the second he withdrew his fingers only to replace them with himself.

But now, as Ollie's screams became louder and his movements more erratic, Slade didn't particularly care for figuring out this new rush of feelings.

All he cared for was getting himself into that tight virgin hole.

~/~

His whole body ached. His hip now bore a handprint because of Slade's rough manner, there were bruises all around, and he was pretty sure that one of his ribs was broken. But the worst part was that he could still feel the other man on him. Ollie could feel his body being torn still by Slade's thick member and the way the older man's hands slid up and down his body.

The blonde had lost his track of time after the third time Slade amused himself with his body. He honestly had no idea what day it was or even how long it had been since he had last seen his kids.

But, even with all the pain he had been caused, he had to admit that Slade had spared no expenses in the room he was being kept in.

It was dark, of course, per what seemed to be the requirement for all villains that held heroes. But the bed he was on at the very moment was extremely soft, and there was a bathroom door to the right side of the room.

He was shackled to the bed by his right foot, but there was enough chain to allow him to go easily to the bathroom without much resistance.

And, as he caught himself thinking this, Ollie couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself.

Why wasn't he thinking up of a plan of escape? Why was he not creating a plan to stun Deathstroke and try and find a way to leave? Why was he instead thinking of how nice the psychopath had been in making sure he had accessibility to the bathroom?

"Ready for your starring role, Queen?"

The blonde gasped in sudden shock as the white haired man entered the room, eye patch in place as a sinister smirk grazed his lips.

Ollie immediately threw the sheets over his naked body and backed up to the headboard, even though he knew his pitiful attempt to retreat was futile. No matter how much he struggled, Slade would always take what he wanted. No matter what.

"Geez, Slade… Knock much?"

The frown sent his way was enough to let Ollie know he wasn't amused at all by his try at a joke.

Then Slade walked towards Ollie and sat down on the edge of the bed. With an unreadable face, his gloved hand found its way to Ollie's leg and began to rub at the spot above the shackle, all the while ignoring the tenseness in the other's body.

His tenderness caught the blonde completely off guard. Ollie's eyes were wide and scared as he stared at the older man, but Slade's one good eye was too busy raking over his bruised and scarred body.

"… I've got a proposition for you…"

This caught Ollie off guard, of course. But he was- unfortunately- intrigued.

* * *

"Please tell me that was all a dream... Just one horrible, terrible, _completely forgettable_ bad dream..." Ollie sighed softly to himself, hand covering his face in shame and embarrassment.

Ollie now found himself standing in front of his home, Slade's heavy hand on his shoulder as the moon shone up in the sky.

"Unfortunately for you- yet fortunately for me- that was completely real. Every second of it. Every touch, every plea, every jolt of pain or pleasure..." Slade smirked underneath his mask, feeling proud of himself. "All of it completely happened."

Clearly, Slade was proud of what he had accomplished. Breaking a hero was not an easy feat to accomplish, not even with all of his years of experience had it been too simple. So knowing he had been able to finally shut up the loud mouthed archer was something he found himself completely proud of.

Now he turned Ollie to him, placing his hand on the blonde's chin to ensure he was looking directly at him. There were no superficial wounds on his face or hands, but the rest of his body was covered with a long sleeved shirt and normal pants, ensuring the rest of his wounds would not be found by the brats living under his roof.

"Now, you may go back to your normal life. But be prepared... Or else, the Justice League will be told of all your... adventures..."

The blonde cringed softly as the hand on his chin rubbed at his cheek, then closed his eyes tightly.

How he had allowed all of this to happen, he was not sure. But he was now stuck with this horrid and screwed up reality.

"Goodbye, Oliver. Until next time."

And in a flash of smoke, Deathstroke was gone and Ollie found himself alone in front of his mansion.


	2. Chapter 2

It hurt to walk. Even more to think.

All Ollie really wanted was to get to his bed and just forget about everything he had lived through. Too bad those plans were dashed the very minute he crossed through his home's threshold.

With slow and steadied steps, the blonde man began to make his way into his home. He knew he was walking much too slowly to seem normal, but his legs burned in the worst way possible each time he moved so he had to try and not jostle his legs too much with each movement.

The man's eyes were screwed shut as sharp gasps escaped him every now and then while he tried his best to get to his room. So focused he had been as he tried to keep his body under control and quietly tried to keep the pain at bay that he did not hear the hurried footsteps that ran to him.

"Ollie!"

But he did hear the sudden shout and immediately opened his eyes to find Artemis staring at him with wide and shocked eyes, mouth agape as she looked at him with what the man knew was complete worry.

Even though he knew he did not look normal at all, Ollie still tried his best to seem okay and smiled at the girl, "Hey, kiddo... How's it going?" Even to his own ears his voice sounded off; coarse, even; but he couldn't dwell too much on that as he kept a tight smile on his face.

"How's it going?" She repeated incredulously as her eyes narrowed, "How's it going?! We've been looking for you for three days, Queen! _Three days!"_

Admittedly, Ollie winced at her shout. He had not been expecting it. Nor had he been expecting the fact that he had been missing from his life for so long.

"Wait a minute... Three days?" He repeated numbly, looking at the blonde girl with stupefaction.

The glare Artemis sent his way let the man know that she found nothing amusing about the whole situation.

"Where were you, Ollie? Dinah and Roy are both on patrol right now, still trying to find you!"

Now this caused Ollie to freeze up for a moment, "Roy is looking for me?"

With a roll of her eyes and a scoff, Artemis crossed her arms over her chest, "He's been helping us out. Believe it or not, he still cares for you."

The blonde man's eyes widened for a moment, then he closed them slightly and breathed out a barely heard, "Could have fooled me..." but said nothing afterwards.

Artemis quirked an eyebrow over at him, as if she were silently urging him to repeat whatever he had said, but Ollie only shook his head and began his slow journey across his home. His lack of speed and the noticeable limp immediately alerted Artemis to there being something wrong with her mentor so she moved to try and help him, maybe even get him to lean against her, and question him about what had happened.

"There's nothing wrong, kid. I'm completely fine." He told her in an almost hoarse voice and that was when he noticed that he had almost screamed his throat raw during his time as Deathstroke's captive. It would most probably be all gone in a few hours. Still, he cleared his throat and looked at the girl with a stern and firm gaze. "I ran into some trouble and bit off just a tad bit more than I could chew... But I'm okay. All I need is some good old fashioned rest."

"Why didn't you contact us at any point? We were all really worried about you."

Sighing, Ollie shook his head, but continued on his way to his room without saying anything else. Artemis' tone was soft, sadder than anything he had ever come from the girl before, but he didn't trust himself. He couldn't trust himself to keep quiet about what had really happened to him nor did he trust his body to not give in at some point if he were made to answer questions he did not still have answers to. So he only made his slow and painful trip up to his room with silent hopes that Artemis would not try and make him talk any further.

~/~

His dreams were not kind.

The harrowing moment spent with Deathstroke kept playing over and over again in front of him without mercy. And just like with the first time he experienced it, Ollie had no possible escape. He was forced to relive every painful and humiliating second once again as his brain replayed the memory in an almost perfect sequence. He was able to feel the mercenary's fingers inside of him once more, stretching him forcefully without barely any lubrication. Again he breathed in the scent of his own blood mixing with his and Deathstroke's own sweat. And once more he screamed and pleaded at the man, tears flowing uncontrollably as he hoped the other would just _stop_ torturing him.

It was humiliating. It was the worst thing he had ever experienced in his life. And it played in a continuous loop in front of him.

Honestly, it was a miracle he woke up at the moment he did.

Even as drenched in sweat as he was, with his heart pounding a thousand miles a second, and with his chest feeling as if there was a huge vice grip trying to make it collapse on itself, Ollie found that waking up in this condition was a thousand times better than having stayed in his nightmares and having relived all the past moments he just wanted to completely forget.

His body felt unnaturally hot and it was uncomfortable enough to make him push the covers off from his legs. He was thoroughly drenched in sweat at the moment and he was glad that he had fallen asleep without a shirt on.

All around him was silent and at that moment Ollie noticed that his vision was blurred. This worried him immediately and he sat up on the bed, threw his legs over the edge, and placed his elbows on his knees, nestling his head in his hands and closing his eyes tightly. He breathed in deeply to try and calm his racing heartbeat.

The silence was; quite frankly; extremely deafening. He could hear _nothing_. And that scared him to no end.

He didn't want to be alone. He wanted to be around his kids and Dinah... He wanted to be reminded that Deathstroke was _not_ the only human being he had ever come into contact with. And, most importantly, he wanted to be reminded that humanity had _some_ good still left in it.

But he was afraid of what might happen. He did not trust himself enough to not tell them about what Deathstroke had done to him... And he _just couldn't_ admit to that just yet. A big man like himself being overpowered by Deathstroke? And, much worse, getting _raped_ by the mercenary?

That news would not be accepted easily. And he did not want to deal with their reactions to that at the moment.

Slowly but surely his vision began to stabilize and soon enough he was able to hear more than just his own breathing. For some reason, having woken up so abruptly from his dreams had thrown off both his senses of vision and hearing which was why he had been so disoriented. But now he was returning to normal and his breathing had calmed down to a point that he didn't feel like his lungs would burn if he tried to limit his breathing too much.

At the moment, he had one of two choices, the blonde man decided as he looked around his room. It didn't seem as comforting as it had once seemed to him. It seemed colder... As if it were a relic from a distant past... With a shake of his head, Ollie returned to his two choices. He could either stay in this room and relive his nightmares yet again, or he could get up and walk around his house once again.

To him, the decision was a no-brainer and soon enough he was grunting to push himself up from his bed. And even though the pain that ran up his spine was extreme, the silence he faced if he stayed alone in his room seemed to be just the driving factor he needed to get out of the room.

His steps were slow and steady once more, but this time he could take steps that were just a tiny bit longer than before and he chalked that up as a win. He reached the door to his room and opened it, stepped out, then closed it as softly as he could in hopes that no one would hear him.

But apparently someone had been waiting for him to leave his room because in no time the hallway's lights were turned on and Ollie hissed softly at the sudden brightness. Then, once his eyes had become accustomed to it, he found Roy standing in front of the door to his own room with his arms crossed and a stern scowl in place.

In the back of his head, Ollie noted that he would never have expected for the cards to have been reversed in such a manner. But instead of saying anything about it, he instead squared his shoulders and nodded at Roy.

"Thank you..." He croaked out after a tense moment of silence, then looked away at any place that did not have Roy near it and cleared his throat. "For helping Dinah and Artemis... That was very kind of you."

Roy's eyes narrowed slightly, "Don't start getting any ideas, Ollie. I only helped because Star needs Green Arrow."

The blonde man winced at the harsh words, but played it off with an awkward chuckle and nodded, "Guess it does." It wasn't a whisper what he uttered, but it also wasn't the tone of voice he was accustomed to using in his day to day life.

Both males fell into silence just then and Ollie began to wonder just what Roy wanted to tell him. But the teenager did not seem to be about to say anything and Ollie did not feel like getting into a petty argument with him at the moment. So instead he began to make his way down the stairs without saying anything else to the kid.

His throat was parched and he really needed something to drink. Which is why he made the decision to go all the way to the kitchen to get himself something. The trip, of course, was painful and he thought about giving up and just falling onto the floor on more than one occasion, but he couldn't. He couldn't really show too much weakness when around Roy. The kid would already know there was something wrong with Ollie, he didn't have to be given any more reasons.

"Why are you walking like that?"

Ollie inhaled sharply and closed his eyes for a moment as he rested against the kitchen counter, but shook his head and glanced over at Roy with a smirk, "Just a limp. I got into a bit of trouble." He shrugged as he made his way towards his liquor cabinet, something in the back of his head urging him to grab himself a shot of whiskey.

Even though his back was turned to the red headed boy, Ollie knew Roy was examining him. And when his hand reached for the latch on the cabinet, the boy spoke up once more.

"You know Dinah doesn't like you drinking that stuff if you're not at a party."

Ollie quirked an eyebrow at the warning, because Roy was clearly telling him to not even touch the alcohol if he didn't want to get scolded in any way, and turned to the boy again.

"She doesn't have to know about this small glass, now does she?" Then, just for show, he winked at Roy before he went to grab a glass for himself and began to serve himself a shot.

The drink burned Ollie's throat in just the _right_ way as he gulped it down and he had to admit that he enjoyed it. Enjoyed it enough to think of serving himself a second shot and drink that too, but Roy was still in the kitchen with him and he wasn't about to give the kid too much ammo.

"You need anything else?" Ollie asked as he turned to the boy after having set the glass inside the sink.

Roy looked him over for a second, then turned around and said, "Nothing at all." In a harsh and cold tone before leaving Ollie alone in the kitchen.

Those words hurt Ollie more than ever that night. And after a minute of debating and battling against himself, his hand reached into the sink to pull the glass out so he would be able to serve himself another glass of whiskey.


	3. Chapter 3

At some point during the night- one point his too tired brain couldn't seem to remember- Ollie had fallen into a blissfully blank sleep on his big couch in the family room. His back was stiff now, stiffer than the night before... So much more than yesterday night... He had not been prepared for so much pain when he woke up. He had honestly hoped that he would have been lucky enough for his pain to have subsided over the night. Of course, he should have known he was not going to have been so lucky.

Blearily he blinked as he awoke, the morning sun that shone in through the small mansion's windows managing to bother his eyes that had gotten so accustomed to the dark. But after a few blinks and a groan, he was able to look around him without too much difficulty and he found Artemis and Dinah both seated on the other couch to his left with twin frowns on their faces.

"Good morning." He grunted softly, voice even hoarser and quieter than the night before, all the while he tried his best to keep from groaning and shouting at the pain that ran up his whole body as he sat up on the couch and straightened himself up to a sitting position.

Dinah's face was barely readable, but Ollie could tell by tight and pursed lips, along with the slight tug down at her eyebrows, that the woman was way past the point of annoyance and was rather close to just yelling at him. And he honestly couldn't blame her for being so angered. If it had been Dinah that had gone missing for three days without a trace... Well... He honestly wouldn't know what he'd do with himself. Knowing his reckless streak, he might have done something so stupid that Dinah may never have turned up again.

"Oliver Queen."

Oh, he was really in for it. He'd get it now. The blonde man actually winced softly at the scolding he was sure he would be receiving.

"What happened?" The woman asked, actually managing to make Ollie raise an eyebrow.

Well, that had not been what he had expected. He had actually anticipated for the woman to begin yelling at him for having been stupid enough to have gone missing for as long as he had been. He had been kind of prepared to have her point out every single thing he had done wrong and why he was paying for it now. All the while he expected for her to not care about his injuries until she had finished shouting.

"What happened and where were you taken? And- the most important question, Queen- who did _that_ to you?" She asked in a cold yet somehow caring voice- a tone that only seemed to work when Dinah used it on him- while her hand pointed at his chest.

At that moment, Ollie glanced down at his chest and cursed the fact that he had decided to sleep without a shirt on. He found bruises beginning to bloom and cover his tanned skin in a crass purple hue. His wrists had dried blood covering them, torn skin barely holding on to his body, and he knew he maybe should have tried to try and clean them and dress them before he had gone to sleep. Deathstroke's hand print almost peeked out from the waistband of his pants, but, luckily, the marks were barely perceptible to the girls looking at him.

"Oh..." He stated almost dumbly, raising his arms to look at himself and the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the deranged mercenary. "This... I was kidnapped by some thugs that decided to have some fun..." He answered with a shake of his head, all the while he lowered his arms and allowed them to rest on his lap.

"Ollie, you were taken in the middle of the day after having eaten lunch with some Australian contractors. No mere _thug_ could have taken you." Artemis growled slightly with her eyes narrowed, teeth almost barred at Ollie.

Clearly, the kid did not like the idea of Oliver Queen having been beaten up so badly. But the man was not about to tell the two blondes in front of him the truth of what he had faced. He couldn't just yet.

So he shrugged and tried to keep a wince from his face when his body jolted in a _bad_ way. "I must have been drugged during the lunch. They _did_ attack Oliver Queen. I don't think they had any idea that I am Green Arrow."

There was a moment of silence in which Artemis and Dinah looked at him with eyes that read of pure concentration and frustration, and Ollie couldn't help but feel bad for that. He couldn't tell them the truth. He couldn't tell them that no thugs had taken him, and instead Deathstroke had kidnapped him to... No. Ollie _refused_ to think about that right now. Especially about the despicable deal he had stricken up with the mad man.

"There are parts of your story that don't make any sense, Ollie. And I think it would be prudent to take you up to the Watchtower so the Martian or Red Tornado could-"

Without any permission on his part, Ollie's head immediately snapped over to the woman and he barked out a desperate, "No!" before she was allowed to finish.

His muscles were paralyzed with fear. His eyes were wide and his heart beat faster than should have been normal. And at once Ollie immediately regretted having shouted out. But... It was as if he couldn't have controlled himself. The sudden shout had left him before his brain had even caught up with what was happening. He could feel his heart constrict as both Dinah and Artemis looked at him with alert and worry in his eyes.

He would have to fix this. _Fast_.

Ollie spent about five seconds thinking about what he could say to try and dispel their worries, but knew that if he didn't speak any time soon, they would be completely set in taking him up to the Watchtower. And the last thing he wanted was J'onn being able to feel all of his perturbed waves.

"They're all flesh wounds, Dinah. And I would feel kind of embarrassed if I went up there and had to admit to the Bat that some no-names got the better of me... No, I'd be better off with just some pain killers and sleep." He smiled as charmingly as he could, all the while he ignored the burning in his throat from having screamed so suddenly, but Dinah's face let him know that she was not going to believe him so readily.

The woman crossed her arms, then looked at Artemis, "Hey, Artemis, do you think you could bring Ollie some cereal? He must be on an empty stomach if he actually thinks I'm going to let him stay here without any medical attention with all of those bruises he has on him."

The glare fixed on him let Ollie know there was no way to get the idea out of her mind. And Artemis smirked softly at the blonde woman's words before she got up and made her way towards the kitchen, most probably to get the hurt man some food. While she was there Oliver looked at his girlfriend with tight lips before clicking his tongue and shaking his head.

"It wouldn't be right, Dinah. If _Oliver Queen_ was kidnapped, shouldn't I be going to a regular hospital?"

But she shook her head, "No one knows you disappeared, goof. Once you finished eating with those contractors, you called up your secretary and told her you would be heading back home. It took Artemis and me a few hours to figure out that you hadn't returned and were most probably in some type of peril."

"So nobody knows that Oliver Queen went missing other than you three? Then why would you make me go up to the Watchtower? Do you really think I want any of them to find out I got my ass handed to me?"

The one good thing about being Oliver Queen is that he had always acted like a rich jerk. Pride had always been a pretty big thing to the man before he had been knocked down a few pegs while stuck on that island. But he could still use it as a fail-safe and perfect defense if he really needed to. And the best part about it was that it was a perfect defense that would be believed.

Dinah immediately reared back in annoyance, "You and your stupid pride!" She growled out, standing up in anger, "You look like _hell_ , Ollie! I can't just sit back and watch you let your pride keep you from getting the medical assistance you need!"

Most of the times, he wouldn't get irritated with Dinah. She was his better half, his one and only soul mate, and the only person that he could trust his life with without any hesitation. But why couldn't she just listen to him without questioning his every word? She should not be pushing him so much to do something he did not want to do. _He_ never pushed _her_ to do anything _she_ didn't want to do!

"Dinah! I am not going and that is final!" He shouted back, standing up so abruptly that he winced at the pain that shot through him. But even though he saw Dinah's eyes soften slightly, he shook his head and swiped his arm slightly at her, "I have made my own choice and there's no way you're going to make me change my mind!"

"I'm only worried about you!"

The shout Ollie had wanted to answer with died down at the saddened gaze Dinah sent his way. His own face softened at how utterly worried and defeated she looked, then he fell back onto the couch and rubbed at his face with his hand.

With a shaky whisper, the man softly shook his head, "Please do not make me do something I don't want to, Dinah. Please... Just trust me... For once, just trust me."

He didn't look up after that. He couldn't bring himself to look at the woman he loved beyond any other. Because now he noticed what he had done to her. He had unwillingly and unwittingly cheated on Dinah... He may have been forced to, but... He wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to look at his face again. He wouldn't blame her if she left right now, never to reappear in his life again. He would not blame her at all.

"Oh, Ollie... What did they do to you?" She asked softly as she made her way over to him, resting her hand gingerly on his shoulder.

But the skin on skin contact immediately made him remember how Deathstroke's hand had fallen on just that spot some time ago and he jumped up and pushed her hand away, moving away from her closeness.

Deathstroke was near him again. Ollie's hands were bound once more to that headboard. The man's fingers were- No. Ollie blinked and shook his head violently, all the while grabbing at his hair harshly. He was _not_ anywhere _near_ the other man. He was safe now. He was home. But his stomach churned uncomfortably now, as if it was ready to give up the small amount of liquids he had taken in the past night because of _just that touch._

"Ollie! Oliver! What's wrong?" Dinah called as she followed after him, hands hovering over the man's injured body but not touching him.

"N-Nothing, Pretty Bird." He whispered numbly, sharply turning to her once more. "I... I'm going up to my room. I'm going to get dressed. Do you have any plans for today?"

"No. None at all." She shook her head and her blonde hair bounced from one side to another, but Ollie could only see flashes of pure white hair.

"Well make some. You don't deserve to be cooped inside this boring mansion taking care of me. I can manage myself." He tried his best to smile, even though he grit his teeth almost aggressively, "Go have some fun, huh?"

Before she could tell him anything, the man began to make his way back to his room as fast as he could, ignoring the agony his whole body screamed at him at how harshly he was treating it. But he had to get away from her soon. If he didn't, he may just let something go. And he couldn't tell her the truth just yet. It was humiliating.

"Ollie!" He heard her call after him, but he only waved her away and shook her head.

"You heard me, Pretty Bird! Have yourself a good day! I don't want to see you back here unless you have gossip for me to catch up on!"

And with these final words the man threw the door to his room open and slammed it shut, leaning against it as his chest heaved.

What had happened back there?

Just one touch from Dinah and he was seeing Deathstroke yet again. Just one meaningless action from his girlfriend had sent him back on a dark spiral of pain. He couldn't make much sense of it.

With a heavy sigh, the man looked over at the shower and decided that a warm bath would be just the medicine for his aching body and racing thoughts.

~/~

After he had finished with his shower, Oliver felt much better. His body still hurt and his brain felt like a hurricane of doubt and hurtful thoughts. But at least now most of the aches had been soothed by the warm water and he had been able to massage some of the cramps in his legs, arms, and ribs.

"Note to self, wrap ribs. One's broken, a few are bruised." He muttered to himself as he wrapped a fluffy towel around his waist, tucking it in to be able to walk around without having to hold it up.

The blonde walked out of the bathroom without even looking at his reflection in the mirror, already having decided that he wasn't ready to face his full reality just yet. But he kind of regretted not having spent more time inside the bathroom because as soon as he looked into his room, he knew his nightmare had only just begun.

On his bed lay a single, inconspicuous paper. Most people would not see that as a bad thing. On most days, he would have been elated because he would have thought Dinah had left him some clue for good times to come. But he had a very good idea as to where this piece of paper had come from and he had been hoping he would not be called upon the man just yet.

Even though he dreaded to read the contents, Ollie knew he didn't have much choice about it. Either he read it or he read it. There was no other choice about it. That didn't mean he liked his lack of a choice, though.

With shaky hands Ollie walked over to the bad and grabbed the piece of paper, then his hands began to shake violently as he read.

_'Quite the family you have there. It would be quite the shame if your girlfriend found out you were having fun without her, don't you think? Meet me at the docks at midnight. Make sure you aren't followed. ~D'_

Tears began to well in his eyes, but Ollie immediately found himself hating them.

He was a man! He shouldn't be crying!

But he was...

In a fit of rage he threw the piece of paper as far away as he could make it go then he looked over at the clock with a grim frown. He had a whole day to pass through before he had to meet again with the mercenary. And he was more than sure that he would not enjoy it. 


	4. Chapter 4

When Ollie made his way back to the first floor of his mansion, he found that Roy and Artemis were both in the kitchen, too busy paying attention to the making of their own meals to try and fight with each other.

Recently bathed and shaved, Ollie felt just a bit more comfortable in his own skin. But he wore a long-sleeved button up shirt to cover all of the bruises and wounds he had received during his captivity. He did not feel like having to see them every time he happened to glance down at his arms.

After his bath and having read that damningly simple message from Deathstroke, Ollie had sat down on his body for a while to try and keep his body from shaking uncontrollably. He was caught in a terrible game of cat and mouse where the cat was insane and the mouse was trapped inside a tiny box. There was also the fact that the cat was fucking _deranged_ , but he didn't want to spend too much time thinking about that small fact.

Once he was sure he could keep his body from shaking too much to be seen as worrying, the blonde man had gotten up from his bed, headed over towards one of his drawers and pulled out a wrap that he proceeded to wrap over his ribs, even though it wasn't too tight. He'd place ice over the area later, and he was sure it was about time he drank some more pain killers, but he'd have to face his family if he were to go down the stairs and he wanted a few more minutes to compose himself before he did that.

Then, once he had his breathing and shaking under control, the man had gone down to the kitchen to get his pills, ice, and maybe even some food. He wasn't sure if his churning stomach would allow him to keep anything down, but he was smart enough to know that he'd have to force himself to eat _something_ if he didn't to face serious repercussions later on.

Artemis was by the oven, cooking herself something or another, all the while Roy waited by the microwave with his arms crossed and an impatient scowl on his face. Whatever he was waiting on seemed to take enough time, for when Ollie checked the timer, it read two minutes and counting.

"Good morning, kids." He said in a way that made his throat scratch uncomfortably, which made him cough and rub at his throat for a second as both teenagers turned to him.

Roy looked at him, inspected him for a second, then nodded and turned back to the food that was being heated. But Artemis looked at him for more than just one second, then put down the spatula she had been using for cooking and walked over to him.

"I made you a bowl of cereal. But Dinah ate it when we noticed you weren't going to come back down for a while." The gray eyed girl said as she made her way over to Ollie, moving her hands to place them on her hips. "Just what happened to you?"

"Nothing you have to worry about, kid." He told her plainly, moving his hand up to prod softly at his side with the broken rib, "But I do have a broken rib so I'm going to need an ice-pack."

Neither blonde made to move after he had said this. Artemis didn't move because she didn't want him to think that he was free of explaining and Ollie didn't move because he wasn't going to let her think she was running the show. Roy was the person that made the first move and it was to shove past them both to get to the refrigerator and pull out the packet of bacon.

Ollie quirked an eyebrow at the odd choice- the kid usually chose to eat healthy- but didn't comment on it as he went to over to the cabinets, ignoring the glare sent his way by Artemis, and plucked a bowl from the insides.

"Dinah tell you where she decided to go off to?" He asked, hoping to begin an easy conversation.

Artemis went back to the oven with an annoyed frown on her face, but answered as she began to move the eggs Ollie could now see she was cooking inside a skillet.

"Well, after she told me you were being a stubborn ass yet again," Artemis began, glaring pointedly at Ollie's back before returning to her food, "She said she was going to go ahead and go back to the shop. She hasn't been there ever since you disappeared and she wanted to make sure everything was alright."

The pain from his many wounds had started up by this point and joined to the gnawing guilt that began to grow in his stomach at the thought of Dinah having stopped all operations in her shop just because of him. But Ollie breathed in deeply- closing his eyes tightly to try and concentrate on the breathing and not the pain- then breathed out and nodded.

"I didn't want her to be stuck in here. She deserves much more than just taking care of an invalid like me." He tried to smile at the small joke, but neither of the teenagers were looking at him at that point and he dropped the smile when he noticed.

"She wanted to help you, Ollie." Artemis sighed with a shake of her head, "And she was more than annoyed with you. She even told me that you were being more pig-headed than usual while she ate your cereal."

"Yeah... She would say that..."

At this point Ollie was rummaging through the upper shelves to see what cereal he would like to eat and the microwave beeped, signalling Roy's breakfast had finished heating up. Without any words Roy took his plate, placed another inside of the microwave, then crossed his arms and leaned against the counter after he had input another time for the newest plate he had placed in the microwave.

"You're being an idiot, Ollie, and we all know it."

The words made Ollie wince softly, but he only pulled out a box of cereal- he didn't even check to see which one it was, he just wanted _something_ \- and began to pour the food into his bowl. After that, he righted it and placed on the counter, then turned to the refrigerator to grab the gallon of milk.

Roy noted that Ollie wasn't going to say anything and continued, "Never before have you been so pigheaded when Dinah was involved. I don't really care much about you-" At this, Ollie's grip on the gallon of milk tightened more than it needed to be, but he hoped Roy didn't notice it, "But Dinah and Artemis do, for reasons I can't understand."

"Gee, Roy, you give such amazing pep talks." Artemis commented with a roll of her eyes, "Why don't you tell the man we just want to put him six feet under while you're at it?"

"Oliver's a grown man, Artemis. He can take things at face-value." Roy hissed back at her, which made the blonde girl turn to him with a deadly glare.

"Oh, Roy, you are playing a dangerous game right now." She growled, turning off the oven and moving the skillet to not let her food burn. "You are _such_ a liar!"

"I am?" Roy asked back, and Ollie couldn't help but feel that he had stepped into a sibling fight he wanted no part in.

So, as quietly and as quickly as he could, the blonde man walked towards his bowl, served the milk, and picked up a spoon to be able to leave the kitchen as fast as possible. But before he could cross the threshold, Artemis spoke to him.

"Ollie, you can't keep telling us there's nothing wrong with you."

With a sigh, Ollie turned to her and shook his head, "I'm perfectly fine, kid. And I'll be even better once you let me eat my breakfast."

She cocked one eyebrow, smirked, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you sure, Ollie? Because- last time I checked- you readily despised any type of sugar in your breakfast. That's Wally's favorite brand."

"What? There's no way-" Ollie began to say as he looked down at his bowl, but stopped when he noticed that instead of there being the brown and bland cereal he expected to eat, there was a brightly covered one that reminded him a lot of what Wally would eat when he decided to stay over with Roy. "I must not have been paying attention." He explained immediately, looking up at Artemis to find her looking at him disapprovingly.

"How about you come to me once you're done with the lies and the cover-ups, huh?" Artemis said scathingly, then turned back to the skillet and placed her food in a plate, grabbed a fork, then left the kitchen.

Ollie looked after her with a new type of pain growing inside of his chest, one that was more emotional and mental than physical, but breathed out shakily as he too walked out of the kitchen with his own bowl. Roy didn't tell him anything else as he turned back to the microwave.

* * *

Ollie spent the rest of his day hidden inside his room. He tried his best to keep his mind from wandering to dark places- such as Deathstroke, what had happened to him, or anything to do with Artemis, Dinah, or Roy- but those subjects seemed to be the only thing his mind wanted him to think of. Thoughts on how his deceit was hurting those closest to him tormented him all throughout the day and he thought on more than one occasion to get himself a drink. Just one would have been perfect.

But he knew that Artemis must still be in the house; she was supposed to stay with him this week so her mother could go visit a friend on the other side of the country; and he didn't want to risk getting caught by her. Even though Roy had seen him drink only one shot, Artemis would immediately start to worry if she caught him doing just that in the middle of the day. Unlike Roy, she openly cared about Ollie's well being and didn't enjoy the idea of him struggling all alone. Like he wanted to.

Even with his roaring thoughts making him feel like a complete sack of shit, Ollie was able to focus on his ribs and injuries and managed to get the pain down just a bit with painkillers and strategically placed ice-packs. He also tried his best to breathe in deeply, to make sure his broken rib would not turn into anything more serious than that.

By the time night came, he had tired of being stuck inside his room with no one around him. But at least he had watched the television and caught up with the news and found out that Red Arrow, Black Canary, and Artemis all picked up the slack Green Arrow had unwillingly left them when he disappeared.

The hours passed by enigmatically so. To Oliver, it felt as if the hours could not pass any slower. Yet when the clock hit eleven fifty, he wished that time would slow down even more so he would not have to go and meet Deathstroke by the docks. Even though he had felt the hours pass by as slow as molasses, he had also felt them go by at Flash speed. It was as if he could not decide which one he actually felt so his body just decided on both.

Still he knew that he would have to go and meet the horrible mercenary. He couldn't give the man any reason to go forth with the failsafe he had warned Ollie he would use if the blonde showed any signs of resistance or negligence of his orders. Ollie couldn't allow the man to think he was going to go back on their deal. He couldn't deal with the backlash it would bring him.

Dinah had not come to meet with him. From what he understood, she had never even returned to his estate. After how Ollie had treated her, he couldn't really blame her. But he couldn't tell them. He couldn't face that truth. He would much rather lie and deceive those around him to try and keep his life before he told the truth and allowed everything to come crashing down around him.

So, after taking in one long breath, Ollie stood up, went to the lower secret levels of his estate and put on his Green Arrow suit. He waited for a minute or two after he had put it on to see if either Artemis or Roy came down there to look for him, but no one came. And once he was sure he had his quiver full and a good bow, he began to make his way towards the docks.

~/~

"Pleasure to see you again, Queenie. Miss me much?"

Oliver sneered at the mercenary's words of greeting, but didn't say anything. Instead, the man clad in green only stood a good ten feet away from Deathstroke without any weapons in his hands.

He still remembered the deal clearly. And he did not want to jeopardize what small sense of control he had left.

Deathstroke lowered his arms from their position crossed over his chest to take one step towards the other man. At this, Ollie flinched slightly, but did not move. Yet with each step Deathstroke took towards him, Ollie's body screamed at him to run away. Begged him to not put it through the same thing they had faced not more than a day ago. But Ollie did not move. He could not.

"You see, you're so good at following my orders. I wonder why the Justice League seems to have trouble controlling you." Deathstroke spoke in a chillingly calm tone as he raised his right hand to caress the blonde man's jaw.

Ollie closed his eyes immediately and had to force himself to not try to get away from the touch of the mercenary. It was a glove, so Ollie did not feel any skin on skin contact, yet the glove seemed to cause enough bad memories to surface because he could feel the skin on his jaw begin to burn at the touch. How he hated the situation he found himself in now.

"So perfectly submissive." He said in an almost coo, then turned away and motioned for Green Arrow to follow him. "Come on. I didn't tell you to come just to enjoy a pretty face."

With a strangled growl, Green Arrow stalked after Deathstroke, glare trained on the other's back.


	5. Chapter 5

Neither man spoke as they walked. Green Arrow kept his silence because he resented the very thought of having a conversation with Deathstroke. The mercenary stayed quiet because he was much too busy rejoicing in the master plan he had managed to come up with. Still, the silence was thick and overbearing and Ollie hated it a lot more than he ever thought he could hate the lack of sound.

The men walked over to a large boat anchored by the dock, the one farthest from the rest of the town. By the time Deathstroke jumped onto it, Green Arrow glared at him and stopped walking.

"Just what do you want with me, Deathstroke? I do not enjoy any of the games you are trying to play on me." The blonde scowled as he crossed his arms, his voice gruff and hoarse, all the while the mercenary stopped in his tracks and turned to him.

For a moment, neither man spoke or moved. Then Deathstroke leaned against the rails of the boat and Ollie could hear the smirk he undoubtedly wore with his words, "You are in no position to be trying to stop me, now are you, _Queen_? Last I checked, I held all the cards and you were my perfectly servile victim... Besides... Do I have to remind you just who made you scream so uncontrollably that your voice wound up like that?"

Ollie grit his teeth at the reminder, then shook his head and jumped onto the boat after Deathstroke, "That has nothing to do with whatever you want now _._ "

"Just follow me and stop using your mouth for things I don't readily enjoy."

The archer's face flamed in both anger and embarrassment, but he shut his mouth tightly and followed the mercenary. If he had learned anything from this small... _Talk_... It was that Deathstroke completely enjoyed the power he now held over the other man and he was going to use it whenever he deemed it necessary. Damn that mercenary.

Green Arrow then followed Deathstroke into the interior of the yacht, where they found two large double doors locked with a rather big chain and a lock. Deathstroke began to work on that, and while he was on that, Green Arrow decided to look around their surroundings and noticed how badly taken care of the boat looked with all of the mold and rust running down the walls, the fraying paint, and the uneven flooring it held.

The blonde had been about to comment on how badly the yacht had been treated when Deathstroke suddenly undid the lock and kicked the doors open, causing them to rattle boisterously and smack harshly against the walls behind them.

For a master mercenary, Deathstroke was much louder than Green Arrow ever thought he would be.

But, even with the growing pit of worry in his stomach, the blonde man followed after the mercenary without saying anything else. He had a bad feeling about actually going after the man, but he did not have much of a choice. Not with the perilous deal he had made the last time they had seen each other.

Both men went deeper into the boat's inside and in a few minutes, they ran into another set of doors. These were metallic and unlocked. Slade pushed past the doors without any hesitation but the archer's footsteps began to falter as he began to wonder about just why the masked man could be leading him so deep into the boat's interior.

In the back of his mind, glimpses and shots of what he had gone through because of Deathstroke replayed. He did not know he if he was fully prepared for another meeting of that nature.

"What do you think you're doing, Queen?"

Upon hearing Slade's voice, the memories of the torture he had been put through mere hours ago became even more vivid and caused Ollie to actually take one step back.

This was the wrong move.

Suddenly Ollie felt Deathstroke's strong hand- one that had already left its mark on his body before- as it grabbed the blonde harshly by his wrist. The archer was pulled to the wall to his right violently and his arm was twisted behind his back as his front was forced into the wall. Before he could try to get away, Deathstroke fully twisted his hand upwards, silently threatening to break his hand if Ollie did anything.

Then, as if having his arm threatened to be broken was not enough, Slade took a step forward and pressed his body against the archer's all the while he lowered his head so it was right beside Oliver's.

"Having second thoughts, rich boy?" He whispered darkly into the blonde's ear, smile forming on his face even if it was slightly concealed by his mask. "We have a deal, boy. Your reputation for my satisfaction. You can't run now."

Admittedly, Ollie felt his chest tighten in a sick manner at those words. He knew what was going to come now. And there way no way for him to stop it. Not if he did not want Deathstroke to go back on their deal. His throat dried and whatever words he might have wittily come back with were gone.

"Come on, Queen..." Now Deathstroke's threatening tone took on a bit more flirty one, then Ollie could feel the other man's free hand begin to trail up his side. "You can't tell me you don't want this..."

Before he could stop himself, Oliver growled and made to strike back at the man holding him with his left hand, and he had been completely prepared to shout something insulting out at the mercenary, but Slade immediately grabbed it with his own and forced it up above his head, against the wall, and held it there.

"What did you think you were going to do, Oliver? Were you planning on hitting me? Then what?" The hand around his left tightened to a point that Ollie cringed, all the while the other softly moved his twisted hand upwards to apply more pressure on him. "Then you'd have the whole world know how much of a cheating prick you actually are, Queen."

"I didn't cheat on anyone!" Ollie shouted out in exasperation, and Deathstroke chuckled darkly, the rumble going through his body and passing on to Oliver's.

If the blonde shivered it was because he was caught in a dangerous position. Nothing else.

"That's not what the pictures and videos prove, pretty boy." Slade rumbled, then Oliver breathed out a sigh of relief when he let go of both his arms.

The relief, though, was short lived, because Ollie soon found himself being pulled into the very room he had first worried about entering, then pushed into it.

When he looked around the room, he found a bed, a counter, and a pair of handcuffs on the counter. The rest of the room was barren and mostly inconspicuous, but the moment his eyes fell on the cuffs, Ollie knew with complete certainty what was about to happen.

"We could do this one of two ways, Queen." Slade spoke up from behind him, then Oliver felt his hands fall onto his hips, gripping tightly and pulling him against Slade's own body. "You can lay back on that bed like a good, little, rule follower. Or I can force you there and keep you there. Which do you choose?"

Oliver glared at the bed he was being directed to, felt himself hating it, even, but took one step forward. Slade chuckled at this and once more Ollie could feel himself shiver at the sound. That damn, deep, lustful sound.

Still, even with how his stomach churned at the thought of Slade's chuckle affecting him the way it was, Ollie still walked over to the bed and sat down on it. He turned so he was facing Deathstroke, who only seemed to be praising the body before him.

A beat of silence between the two passed in which they just looked at one another, but Deathstroke broke it with, "You need self-control, Queen."

Oliver quirked an eyebrow at this but did not speak up.

Deathstroke, though, continued, "You also need a lesson in honor." Now the mercenary moved his hands up to take his face, then began to take off his mask. Soon enough Oliver could see the smirking face of Slade Wilson, and he could not help but despise that smile. "You made a deal with me, Oliver. You cannot turn back on it now." As he said this, the man moved over to the counter and placed his mask down on it, eye admiring the handcuffs. "You _do_ remember our deal? The one we made to ensure your... _Safety_." He smiled venomously at this, knowing full well what he was doing to the man. "The one that ensures my own joy?"

With a harrowed frown, Oliver looked away from the other man. He did not want to answer it. Voicing out the deal they had come to terms with would mean making it real. And he did not want to admit to such a dirty and corrupted deal so soon... Not after he had tasted the clean hope that belonged to his family not only a few hours ago.

His silence was rewarded with Slade calmly walking over to him without saying a word to him. Ollie watched in worry and confusion as the man brought his hand up slowly, non-violently, and actually caressed his cheek. Then, after caressing it, it went down onto his chest and unclasped his quiver. The piece of equipment fell with a dull thud onto the bed and Oliver was more than confused as to just what Slade was playing at.

He was about to ask just what the hell was going on when the hand Slade had used to unclasp the quiver found its way beneath his tunic, immediately starting to caress the skin he found beneath the piece of clothing. This caused Ollie's eyes to go wide and he tried to move away, but Slade's other arm wrapped around his lower back and brought Ollie closer to the mercenary.

But even as he began to undress Oliver, Slade offered no explanation. Instead he only rejoiced in the confused face of the blonde as he took off his green tunic, then smirked at the blush that began to spread up his face at how caught off guard he was by Slade's sudden care.

Even though Ollie was surprised by it, Slade knew what he was doing. If he continued being a complete jerk to Oliver, it would only drive him away and he'd never get any further than a quick rump in the sheets with someone that detested him. No, if he wanted to make Oliver Queen completely crumble, he'd have to play his cards right. And one of the cards he knew would work well with the hero would be to act as if he cared. He was a bit of a soft heart like that.

He did not say anything when he pushed Ollie down onto the bed, but smirked broadly when the archer went willingly without even trying to struggle. He seemed much too perplexed at the moment to even try and stop Slade. And this was a good thing for the mercenary because now he would not need to grab the handcuffs to subdue the blonde.

As Slade moved his hands up and down Oliver's toned yet injured body, the blonde could not help but close his eyes and breath out in a shuddery manner. The hands... Well, they felt nice as they ghosted their way over his chest and stomach. It was such a change from Slade's first usage of his body that Ollie even had to admit it to himself.

Then there was a moist mouth on his nipple and Oliver found himself having to bite on his knuckles to keep from making any regrettable noises.

Just what was Slade playing at? This didn't feel like rape... Was it rape?

But soon enough there was no more time left to think about if he was a consenting person or not because Slade's hands shoved their way into his pants and began to pump his member, which caused Ollie's hips to buck up against the body over him while low groans began to escape him.

This reaction was exactly what Slade had been hoping for. Exactly what he wanted. And he smiled dangerously around Oliver's nipple before kissing his way over to the other one, rolling it with his tongue only to bite down on it to elicit yet another groan from the blonde beneath him.

Oliver was rather vocal in these kinds of situations. Most probably, he hated the fact that he gave away so much with his voice, but Slade was completely amused by it. Especilly considering how vocal he was being right now after he had barely done anything to him.

"Tell me, Queen... Doesn't this feel amazing?" Slade asked as he detached himself from Oliver's chest, hands still working on the man's member as he leaned just a bit back to really rejoice in the blonde beneath him.

And did Ollie look amazing.

This wasn't the same type of control he had experienced the first time with Oliver. But it was an interesting kind of control that he was determined to explore fully before he had to let go of the blonde.

He pumped Ollie slowly, in a strategic manner to make him into a whimpering mess with just that one touch. Agonizingly teasing the blonde, rubbing his thumb just barely over the slit taught Slade that this made Ollie buck his hips in desperate need, only to force himself back down and look away. He smirked down at Oliver, then, once he felt the man was hard enough, and had been teased to just about the brink, he retracted his hands and just looked at Oliver.

The blonde had turned his head away to keep from looking at Slade. He had not wanted to see the man that was pleasuring him... This was _nothing_ like the first rape... This barely even felt like rape. He was excited. He was enjoying this. And he felt that his pants were much too tight now and that Slade was a prick for not finishing him off.

Chancing one look at the man, Oliver regretted looking at Slade when he saw the man smirking down at him.

"Don't feel bad for this, Oliver..." Slade told him in a soft and caring voice, then leaned down so his mouth was just above the blonde's lips. "You're enjoying this is just as much as me." Then he lowered his head so his lips softly met with Ollie's own.

The kiss, admittedly, caught Oliver off guard. And the lips were nothing like Dinah's own. While Dinah's lips were plump, soft, and always left behind the stain of lipstick, Slade's were neither thin nor plump, caught in between both widths, slightly chapped, and were a thousand times more eager. In no time Slade's tongue came into play and before Ollie could even think to deny him any access, his mouth had opened without his consent and welcomed the foreign appendage.

If he moaned into the kiss, it was because Slade already had him so hot and bothered. It certainly wasn't because that one kiss made a hundred of Dinah's pale in comparison. And if his arms wrapped around Slade's shoulders to bring him closer, then it was because he knew that Slade wanted this from him and this was the only way to sate the man. It certainly wasn't because Ollie was enjoying this.

Slade smirked as Ollie began to participate, then brought his hands down to begin to tug Oliver's pants down.

He broke their kiss to smile at the blonde in a predatory manner, "Let me finish you off, huh?"

And before Oliver could even try to make sense of what he was saying, Slade was kissing his way down the blonde's chest and stomach, hands shoving the man's pants down enough to allow Ollie's cock to finally be freed. Then, without any warning, Slade took the blonde into his mouth and began to suckle, causing an unabashed and completely pleased moan to burst from the blonde's mouth without his permission.

"Fuck! _Slade..._ " Oliver couldn't help it when he grabbed onto Slade's white hair as the man bobbed his tongue against his slit, all the while humming and causing vibrations to run up his member. " _Fuck..._ "

Inside, Slade was rejoicing in the fact Ollie had become so pliant so easily. On the outside, he was certainly enjoying pleasuring the blonde.

But there was a reason he was _The_ Master Assassin. He had self control. He could stop himself whenever he needed to. And, unfortunately for Ollie, the blonde would be receiving his first lesson after this small rump.

Oliver's climax came quick and he released his seed into Slade's mouth with a sharp cry after announcing he was about to cum. Slade swallowed it like a champion, even though he did not completely enjoy the salty taste, then watched Oliver breath heavily as he tried to calm down from his high.

How utterly fuckable he looked right now. But Slade knew better. He was smarter than this.

Instead of moving on to what he heavily desired, the mercenary only stood up and turned away from Oliver to wait. He did not have to wait long before Ollie questioned what he was doing.

"Me?" He asked innocently, then turned his head to glance back at the blonde to see he was still laying back on the bed with just about his whole body exposed if not for the pants bunched at his knees. "I was just thinking about how much of an _utter idiot_ you must be, Oliver Queen." He growled in disgust, then turned away once more. "You were moaning like a two-cent prostitute."

Slade did not have to look back to see Ollie's eyes going wide and his body begin to move. He knew exactly what the blonde would be doing.

"But... What the hell are you playing at-" The blonde tried to ask in a threatening tone, but his past activity had left his voice slightly trembling and Slade had to urge himself away from fucking him into the bed mattress as if there was no tomorrow.

No, if he would like to continue doing this without the blonde fighting him, he would have to sow the seeds of doubt and self-hate early on. The prize was worth the wait, after all. And his prize would be a completely pliant Oliver Queen. A completely pained, fucked up, and desperate one at that.

"I'm not playing at anything, you _fucking whore_." Slade interrupted with a sneer, then turned around to glare at the blonde.

Immediately Ollie recoiled from the anger and wrapped his arms around his legs, trying to shield himself from any abuse. This caused Slade to smirk.

"You just open your legs for anyone, don't you? And your mouth too, huh?" Slade egged on, grabbing his chin harshly to force Oliver to look at him. "What, did you actually think I would be doing this for you to feel pleasure? You're a goddamn idiot if that's what you thought!" He chuckled darkly now, then pointed over at a corner of the room, where he had installed a camera a few nights ago. "Never leave yourself open to attacks, Queen." He told him, then leaned down to nip at his nose, ignoring the blonde's glare. "Consider this your first lesson in self-control."

With those words, Slade moved away from the blonde, placed his mask back on, and turned back only to find Ollie with his pants back on and trying to find his shirt. He enjoyed the sight of the muscular torso twisting around to find the shirt for a moment, then chuckled once more and shook his head.

"You make it too easy."

Then the mercenary left Oliver alone in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is my first real try at smut in which I actually tried to get it right. I hope you didn't hate it too much.


	6. Chapter 6

The full severity of the situation did not dawn on Ollie until almost five minutes after Deathstroke had left.

He had been frozen still for the first minute. His brain had not seemed capable of any function so the man simply laid on the bed, only breathing and blinking because those actions were basic instinct, barely even thinking.

When the second minute hit, a sudden wave of repulsion washed over Ollie and he jumped up from the bed and began to pull his pants up. Still, even though his body seemed to have caught up with what had happened and had begun to dress him, Ollie's brain was still stuck in a type of stillness, and he did not think of anything as his arms mechanically pulled on the pants.

The third and fourth minutes after Slade left were passed in a type of blur because Oliver was too occupied not thinking to notice that time was passing.

Finally, when the fifth minute arrived, everything that had happened dawned on Ollie and his eyes immediately watered.

Slade had... The mercenary... A blow job...

Ollie shook his head rapidly and groaned loudly, beginning to pace around the room. That name and that action had no right to be in the same sentence. Well, unless there was a big 'did not give' in between them. But there wasn't one to divide them. Slade had given him a blow job. And he had enjoyed it.

"Ohh..." He grunted now, hand immediately moving to his mouth as he fought against himself to push down the sudden wave of nausea that washed over him. "Why can't there be a not somewhere in that sentence?" He asked himself after he had managed to squash the feeling of vomiting, then took one look around the room.

It hadn't felt like rape. He had... _Willingly_ allowed Slade to pleasure him. And pleasured he was.

"Wait a minute." He suddenly stopped in his pacing and focused on a blank part of the wall before him. "... Was that even rape? I mean..." But he shut himself up at that moment.

He knew it hadn't been rape.

Bile rose in his throat as he remembered just how well Slade had managed to make him feel and suddenly an image of Dinah close to tears appeared in his mind. She looked just as beautiful as ever, but so extremely sad that immediately all Ollie wanted to do was to make her feel happy yet again. But his face twisted up and his eyes closed tightly when he thought about why she was so sad. Dinah was so sad because he had betrayed her in the worst way possible.

But he hadn't betrayed her!

He hadn't... He couldn't have... He had left behind all of his terrible, horrible, destructive ways back on the island when he had shipwrecked. He had left it all behind and replaced it with all the morals that made him the great hero he was now.

If he even was a great hero.

The tears in his eyes began to really sting him at that moment, but, luckily, his League communicator beeped at that moment and he was given a reason to ignore everything that had happened to him.

"Yeah. You got Arrow." He answered immediately in his hoarse tone, never even stopping to wonder just why the League would want him so late in the night.

 _"We need you to get to Gotham as soon as possible. Merlin and Cupid decided it would be a good idea to hustle on Batman's territory and they have help from some of the with some out of towners."_ Flash informed him in a no-nonsense voice, which made the blonde man sober up and nod.

Biting back the tears that still threatened to spill, Green Arrow nodded to himself and looked over the bed to find his tunic and quiver where Slade had thrown them. At the reminder of what Slade had done to him, the tears became extremely hard to hold back, but he somehow managed to keep them at bay. Even though he had stopped the tears, the thoughts that came to him were much too loud to ignore.

"I'll be there." He told Flash simply, then looked over to the bed where his tunic and quiver still lay. He was immediately disgusted at their sight.

The quiver had been the first thing to go with Slade. That had been the first step to seduce Ollie. And, goddammit, the first step had been successful, as had been the rest. Slade was not only a master mercenary, he was also one hell of a master manipulator and Ollie was sure this would not be the last time he fell to tricks like these. Unfortunately for him, Ollie was a soft heart. He fell easily to kind words. He was a fool.

Still, the fact that he believed in love did not excuse the thoughts that were now coming. He had no right to have enjoyed his time with Slade. He had no right to have betrayed Dinah. He had no right at all.

Turning away from the quiver for a moment, the blonde raised his gloved hand to pass it through his blonde hair, as if by rubbing at his face would help purge himself in some manner of what he had done.

A heartbeat passed, then Oliver sighed, shook his head, and stalked towards the quiver to wrap it around himself and clasp it. All the while he did this, the only real thought running through his head was how fucked up his life had become in just a manner of days.

When he left the boat, fully dressed and hoping he didn't look too disheveled, he tried his best to not think about the rape he had suffered that short time ago at the hands of Deathstroke. And he really tried to keep himself from comparing his walk of shame then to how he walked and felt now. He did a terrible job of stopping himself from thinking too much.

* * *

Merlin and Cupid were two foes he was accustomed to fighting. Those two he could deal with. Those two he knew how to defeat. Those two were nothing like Deathstroke. Those two weren't trying to break him mentally, physically, _and_ emotionally. They just wanted to kill him. And he could deal with that.

As soon as he had gotten onto the scene of the Gotham Museum trying to be robbed by the combined forces of Cheetah, Merlin, Cupid, Solomon Grundy, Giganta, Harley Quinn, and the Joker, Ollie had gone into fight mode. He had just gone on auto pilot as he traded arrows with both archers, his mind otherwise occupied with trying its best to keep from thinking of Slade.

But even as an arrow that came to close to his face whizzed past him and left a small cut on his cheek, Ollie could not stop himself from thinking about the mercenary.

Just what did the man gain from doing this to him? He had undoubtedly already received his pay from his first contractor... That much Ollie was sure of.

He had said that it had all started because of a payer, after all. Deathstroke had been contracted at the very beginning to rape Oliver Queen. In the beginning, it had only been about receiving money. Green Arrow was never a target. At least, that's what Ollie had inferred at the beginning after the first time he was raped because of everything Slade had said.

Because, really, Slade had basically given away his whole initial plan in the first hour of the first rape. It was a contract, he had said, and the contractor had asked for _Oliver Queen_ to feel pleasure. Not once did Deathstroke even talk about Green Arrow. He only really referenced his nightly activities when he told Ollie of the wretched plan the blonde had immediately agreed to.

How could he not have accepted it? It was the only way to ensure the stability of his status. And having agreed to Slade's terms was the only way he could make sure that the Justice League never found out about what Deathstroke had done to him.

With a growl and a shake of his head, Oliver tried to clear his mind of those thoughts. He had a fight to care about at the moment!

And just as he looked up, finally able to shake himself for a little while of his roaring thoughts, Ollie found himself faced with a rather dangerous situation. Cupid had noticed how distracted his shots had been and had apparently told Merlin. So they had decided that Merlin would continue trading arrows with the green archer all the while Cupid made her way over to Green Arrow, a rather sharp arrow poised and ready.

"Any last words, sugar cup?" She asked with a smirk as the arrowhead glistened menacingly in the light.

Ollie cursed himself for having been such a fool, he should have never allowed his thoughts to endanger him in this manner, then dropped his quiver and the arrow he had at the moment and raised his hands in a show of defenselessness.

"Come on, Cupid. Where's the love?" He tried to stall and from the corner of his eye he could see Merlin begin to make his way towards them with his own smirk in place.

Of course, _he_ would be getting off at the idea of Green Arrow dying.

Cupid smiled broadly at the bad pun, but before she could really tell him anything, a blur of red and yellow sped past them and left Cupid without any weapons. Green Arrow took his chance and grabbed her by the wrist, pulled her in, then delivered the strongest punch he could muster with his right fist. The woman fell immediately, never having been one for brutal attacks.

Instinctively he rolled, grabbed his bow and arrow and nocked it to begin to fight with Merlin, but froze when he saw that Flash already had the archer tied up in one of Ollie's own rope arrows. His arms lowered at the sight and he could only smile slightly apologetically over at the speedster as he began to get up from the floor.

"Thanks."

Flash nodded at him then knocked out Merlin, who was undoubtedly going to begin one of his anti-Green Arrow rants at any moment, and allowed the man to crumple to the floor. After that he stepped away from him and walked over to the Emerald Archer, who had turned to Cupid to make sure she was okay and only down for the count.

"Grundy's out, Joker disappeared, Harley, Giganta, and Cheetah have all been apprehended. These two were the last of the latest revival of the Injustice Gang to give us any trouble." The speedster informed Ollie as he stopped and stood beside him, arms crossed.

Oliver grunted at the information but said nothing more. He understood the implication. Merlin and Cupid should have been the first to be stopped because they were the easiest to take care of and the less deranged of the bunch. Flash was giving him time to explain himself and his actions before the rest of the League showed up, and, better yet, was being nice enough to not even ask him just what had happened. But Ollie wasn't going to answer.

What could he say? 'Sorry, I was really busy mulling over my personal drama with Deathstroke- you know, that one mercenary that could kill the whole League if he really put himself up for it?- and how he's been raping me and messing with my head. And I kind of have some inner turmoil going on because I know that Dinah would leave me as soon as she found out about what has happened and I may just be starting to think that this happening is somehow all my fault.' No. He would never say that. And he wouldn't even explain what had happened.

"Does the League need anything else?"

How he hated his voice. Was it not enough that his body still ached from the deranged touches Slade had given? Did he really have to be reminded of everything every single time he spoke up as well? At least he could tell himself that his body would heal and his voice would eventually go back to normal. It was these dark thoughts that really troubled him.

Flash's eyes seemed to soften behind the cowl- Ollie had been around capes long enough to be able to differentiate the many emotions that go on behind the mask- and he raised a hand to place it softly on the blonde's shoulder. Just like with Dinah, Ollie's breathing picked up and he shook it off immediately, but at least he managed to keep himself from moving as far away as possible from Death- Flash's hand.

The archer raised his hand to his face and rubbed at his eyes, all the while cursing himself inwardly. He was doing that a lot recently. Feeling stupid for doing the stupid things he had done.

"Ollie, are you okay? You didn't even trade _one_ insult with Merlin." Flash whispered softly as he moved closer to the archer, and that was when Ollie had to move away.

Flash was too close. Deathstroke had been too close. Deathstroke _was_ too close.

Dammit! Slade wasn't here! Then... Why did he feel as if the mercenary was here at the moment, with his hands still crawling over Ollie's body? Why did he feel as if he could just feel those damned lips smirking over chest?

Oliver glared at Flash and turned away from him then, stalking away. "I'm fine." He growled back at the speedster as he walked away.

Luckily for him, Flash made no move to follow after him. That had always been the good thing about Barry, he always seemed to know when someone was ready to talk and when someone may have just tried to bash his brain in for him trying to get them to talk. The only bad thing that would come out of this, actually, was that Barry would undoubtedly later try to get him to explain why Ollie had been so far gone during the mission.

~/~

He followed standard League protocol after that. He waited patiently for his turn to debrief on the mission with Batman, then told the Bat the complete truth. From the way the man's lips thinned when he said he had needed Flash's help to take care of two of his own villains, Ollie knew that the Bat must have been wondering what had thrown him off his game. But the Bat was not one to mess with a Leaguer's personal life and kept himself from asking anything about Ollie. Instead he only warned the archer to be more alert on missions if he didn't want to be saddled with monitor duty for the next week.

Once he had left the briefing room, Ollie was met with Flash leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, most probably just waiting for his green clad friend.

With a sigh, Ollie shook his head and began to walk in the direction of the Zeta teleporters, wanting nothing more to just go home, take a bath, and hope that his was all just one horrible, continuous nightmare he was trapped inside because of some villain's evil powers.

"Wait! Ollie!"

Barry never seemed to know how to let something go. He had never given up on his relationship with Irish, not even with all of the problems they had encountered along the way, so Ollie personally knew how stubborn the man could be. But that didn't mean he couldn't have hoped that the fast man would just let this _one_ issue go.

"What, Barry?" He asked in an irritated tone, which made Flash rear back slightly at the harshness of it.

"Geez, did your bowstrings get all tied together?" He asked defensively, and Ollie glared at him in complete annoyance. "You're not in a good mood."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Shall I direct you to the next nearest observation?" Oliver bit back, then pointed over at one of the windows in the floating contraption they found themselves on, "How about there? Would you like to point out that we're in space?"

This reply seemed to get Barry as annoyed as Ollie was. He threw his hands up and hissed back, "You are being pissier than Roy, Dick, and Wally when we didn't let them watch that R-rated movie five years ago!"

Ollie's annoyance was immediately replaced by sudden awareness and he almost took a step back from Barry because of that almost shout. He was arguing with his best friend just because he was worried about him. He was being an ass.

"Sorry." He apologized softly, then turned away from Ollie to walk towards the transporters once more. But he offered no explanation.

Barry followed after him, though, and they fell into a tense silence as they walked. "Dinah told me you went missing... Feel like talking about it?"

Ollie's fists clenched at the information. He had specifically told Dinah to not- No. He hadn't. He had only told her that he didn't want the League finding out about him getting kidnapped. But he had never _directly asked her_ to not tell them anything.

His life was spiralling out of control much faster than he could even keep track of and he felt like there were only a few things that he still had full control over. His body, for one, was something he had barely any control over now thanks to Slade. It was only a matter of time before the mercenary took something else away. And Dinah sure wasn't helping him by telling Barry about what had happened.

"I don't really feel like talking about anything." Ollie answered with a sigh, raising his hand to run it through his hair. "I just feel like getting home."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it, Ollie? You were gone for _three_ days-"

"I know, Flash! I was there!" Ollie interrupted with a hiss, shaking his head, "Dammit! Can't you understand that I just don't want to talk to you?"

After having said this, Oliver shook his head and began to walk even faster towards the transporters. Luckily, they were only a few feet away, and he didn't have to walk too much with Barry's hurt eyes following him. Then, once he was there, he didn't even turn back to look at Barry's undoubtedly hurting face because he knew he would feel horrible for having answered the man so harshly.

As he stepped into the teleporter, Ollie could only think of one thing. And was that if Slade really wanted to break him mentally, he was doing one hell of a good job.


	7. Chapter 7

That night, well, extremely early morning, really, Oliver noticed just how fucked he was.

As soon as he had entered the underground room he had for his Green Arrow activities, his shoulders had sagged heavily and his feet began to drag, as if he had suddenly taken the whole weight of the world onto his shoulders and his body could not take it. And he might as well have done just that because he felt so incredibly heavy that it wasn't even surprising anymore, but instead was tiring.

Luckily for him, it was still so early in the morning that none of the people he shared the house with were awake and around the hideout because of their nightly activities. If Artemis had gone on any round of patrol, she must have already arrived hours ago. Roy didn't come by much anymore. And Dinah most probably hadn't come back after he had asked her to leave.

As he climbed up the stairs that led from his work station up to the showers, Ollie noted just how frazzled he truly was. His breaths were quick and uneven, his heartbeat quick, and even though he couldn't see himself, he just knew that his whole body was shaking. His whole body was uncomfortably tensed, as if it expected to get attacked at any moment. And, honestly, Ollie could not blame himself for that. Slade had done a number on him the first time, but this second time had just been... It was horrible.

As soon as he reached the shower he kept in the hideout, he began to peel off all of his layers of clothing, sneering in disgust at them once they were on the floor and off of his body.

They had partaken in something dirty, something completely wrong and repulsive. In his mind, it made sense to hate the clothes as much as he actually hated what Slade had done to him while he wore them. He had committed a dirty and horrendous act. And he needed to wash some of that dirt off of him if he didn't want to be completely ruined by it for the rest of his life.

So, when he turned on the water for his shower, he turned it up as hot as it would go to see if it would make him feel any less dirty. And maybe, just maybe, he would be able to get the feeling of hands crawling over him off of his body if he scorched it with the hot water.

The water scorched him in the best way possible. Ollie closed his eyes as the water just pounded on him, ignoring how much it really stung him as best he could even though he winced occasionally. It felt good. The water burned him in the best way possible at the moment. And he could barely even feel the ghost of Slade's hands over him now that the burning sensation overwhelmed him.

When he opened his eyes, they immediately fell on the disgusting articles of clothing and it seemed as if whatever progress the hot water had managed was dashed away with that single look. Why? Because Oliver noticed something rather important. He had been disgusted with his clothes. He couldn't stand the fact that Slade had gotten his way with his body without any hint of resistance.

Just the very thought of that man's body hands on his body was enough to make whatever numbness the stinging water had managed to be drowned away and replaced by a hyper awareness of every single place Slade had touched him.

Frustrated tears began to well up in his eyes and Oliver could not help but clench his fists tightly.

Maybe his feelings were on high alert. That would explain why he had tears threatening to spill from his eyes and he breathed in soft gasps, as if he were preparing himself for the oncoming panic attack his body already seemed to know was about to happen.

Breathing out shakily, the man slowly lowered his body until he was seated on the floor of the shower, the hot water almost forgotten as it rained down on him. His chest tightened uncomfortably, his throat closed up, and through blurry eyes he could see his hands begin to shake.

He hated all of this. And there was a horrid feeling growing in his gut that made him think that this was only the beginning of whatever it was Slade had planned.

There was so much about this whole situation that he hated that he could make himself a mental checklist.

Mind games? Despised.

Being powerless to not do anything to stop Slade? Absolutely loathed.

Feeling guilty over something he had no real control over? He hated that sensation more than anything else.

The disgusting feeling of not being able to get clean after all of this? It was amazing one human being could hold so much apathy for just one kind of thing.

Slade himself?

Upon thinking of the name, the man's smirking face appeared once more at the forefront of his mind, seemingly having been burned onto it as soon as Ollie had come across it.

But there was something odd about this image. Something in his mind clicked and he was no longer feeling the pure hatred he felt towards the whole situation. Instead... Instead... What the hell did he feel towards Slade? He _longed_ to be able to say that the feeling coursing him was a hate so pure and difficult to attain that there were no real words to describe it, but... He could not lie to himself.

He may be able to lie to his girlfriend, to his friends, to his children, and to just about _everyone_ , but he could _not_ lie to himself.

And the indescribable emotion that now overtook him was _anything but_ _hate_. He knew himself too well to try and lie about it.

His face scrunched up at the thought of this because of how purely fucked up it was. _Not_ hate Slade? No, that didn't make any sense. He had _all_ the right in the world to hate the cocky, dastardly, _disgustingly manipulative_ mercenary!

The sudden realization of his feelings made bile rise immediately in his throat but he managed to keep it down as he leaned against the shower's wall and raised his hand to his mouth.

"Damn it!" With a sudden burst of uncontrolled anger, the man twisted around to punch into the tiled wall of the shower, causing the material to splinter beneath his fist.

From the sheer force he had used against the wall, Ollie managed to tear into his own skin and caused his hand to draw blood with the glass that came loose. With a cry that came more out of annoyance than pain, he withdrew his hand from the wall and inspected the damage to his hand, then the one caused to the wall. From what he saw, he could only hope that none of the others decided to use the shower until he was able to fix the damage.

After making a note in his mind to try and fix the broken tile, he stayed on the floor for a while longer just stewing in his thoughts. The very idea of hating everything Slade had done to him yet not once having thought about hating the man himself... It made no sense. Why would he not think about despising Slade? Why did the man never cross his mind, even though his actions haunted him so horribly?

Once he realized that- for some reason he could just not fathom- he couldn't bring himself to hate Slade, Oliver felt even sicker than he had before. How could he not hate the man? There was no reason to _not_ hate him. He had _every reason_ under the sun to despise him.

With a saddened groan, Oliver stood up from his place on the floor and shut off the hot water. Now that he had come to this realization, burning his skin seemed to make no sense. If the problem was psychological, then punishing his body wouldn't really do anything to help fix it.

His skin was uncomfortably hot as he stepped out of the shower and when he glanced down, he noticed how red it had become from having sustained such abuse for so long. But the pain he was supposed to have felt was numbed and barely perceptible because he somehow managed to just ignore it. His mind was much too busy at the moment, after all, regretting every decision he had ever made in his life to stop and allow his pain receptors to work at top capacity.

With this in mind, the man made his way out of the shower, over to the robes he kept in the hideout, then up to his house. On his way up to his room, though, he stopped in the kitchen for a shot of whiskey. Then another. And a final one. And once he felt he was buzzed enough to feel just a bit less bad than he did before, he made his way up to his room.

* * *

He awoke to a soft knock on his door.

The curtains over his windows were drawn tight and his room was completely engulfed in darkness. When Ollie opened his eyes and noticed this, a sudden feeling of unease crept up on him because of how _dark_ his room seemed. It felt cold, calloused, distant. And he immediately felt like he was going to begin to drown in that dark feeling if he didn't leave the room immediately.

Then the knock came back and he sat up in his bed to call out to the person. "Who's there?"

"Dinah. Listen, Ollie, we need to talk."

Oliver's eyes widened at her voice, the memories of what he had done the past night hitting him like a mac truck, but he did his best to push them to the very back of his mind so he could jump out of bed and hurry towards the door.

"We really do." He called to her, then threw the door open, took one look at the blonde beauty he called his own, and couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and bringing her as close to him as he could. "How have you been?" He asked before he could stop himself, eyes closed as he just rejoiced in the feeling of having her body right beside his.

For once, he felt _right_ being so close to someone. Slade seemed to have been doing a good job of making him forget how that might feel. Slade seemed to have done a pretty good job of covering up all the good things that came from being touched by someone you actually cared for.

"I'm fine, Ollie..." Dinah answered after a confused beat, then wrapped her arms around Oliver's back and felt him almost melt into her. "Are you feeling alright, Ollie? You're rather... I don't know..." She drifted off for a moment, then breathed out and nestled her face into his chest. "I've been _so_ worried about you, you idiot."

"And I'm sorry for making you worry, Pretty Bird... I know that I didn't seem alright when I came home, and I know denying going to the League for medical care only made you worry more, but..." He breathed out then, shaking his head to press a kiss to the top of Dinah's head. "Let me take you out."

The thought came to him suddenly, without any real basis.

But he had missed Dinah. He had missed her stability and the comfort she radiated. No matter how much Dinah might try to make people believe otherwise, she was a soft and warm soul that cared deeply for those she deemed worthy of the care. And while she did not show her hidden side to many, Oliver had been able to experience it a few times. And that side was the one he desperately needed at the moment.

He knew that her soft and caring side would not come out of nowhere. She had to be eased into a state of calmness to even think about not being guarded against everything. So, in a moment of very little thinking, he decided to take her out to eat to lull her into caring for him. If he showed her that he still loved her very much, then maybe she would let down her guard and give him the love he needed. Maybe she would be able to unknowingly remind him of the stability and security he had once had in his life.

"Take me out?" She repeated almost dumbfounded, pulling back from the embrace to look at Oliver with wide eyes. "Ollie, you just got back from being missing for three days. Is going out really a good idea?"

With a soft smile finding its way onto his face, Ollie nodded, "Believe me, Dinah, when I tell you that the only thing that can really make me feel better after the hell I went through is spending time with the most beautiful woman on this planet." Then he kissed her swiftly yet softly on the lips, only to withdraw with the smile still on his face, "And that is what you are, Pretty Bird."

Dinah's eyebrow quirked at the kiss, but soon found herself shaking her head with a soft smile of her own.

"Where will you be taking me?" She asked the blonde man as she squeezed his back for a moment, then released him to grab his hand and begin to lead him over to the family room.

"Anywhere you want, Pretty Bird." He answered as he allowed her to take him wherever she wanted to because, on the inside, he only hoped that she wouldn't abandon him now.

It brought a smile to his face to see her smile at his answer, and he believed that even though Slade was fucking him over royally, he at least had Dinah to rely on. And, if he was lucky, she would stay with him through all of the lies, the deceit, and the cover ups because of how much she loved him.

Maybe, if he was lucky, her love for him would be enough for her to put up with all the lies he knew he would have to give her now.


	8. Chapter 8

Dinah had never been one for fancy restaurants. At the start of their relationship, she had made her voice be heard loud and clear and of the things she made sure to get Ollie straight on was the fact that she did not enjoy having to get dressed up to just go eat.

At first, he had found that she was kind of odd because she was different from the women he was used to hanging around. But as time wore on and their outings became more and more intimate, he found to love and even be grateful for her practicality. She didn't force him to go out just for image's sake. No, she made him go out to the most quiet and secluded spots she could think of to be able to dodge any nosy onlookers. And he grew to love those relaxed outings more and more the more they occurred.

"How should I dress?"

Oliver smiled softly at the purposely innocent look Dinah wore as she sat on the edge of his bed. After he had promised to take her out, he had invited her into his room so he could get dressed for breakfast.

"Like I said, Pretty Bird, you're choosing where we go." He told her in amusement, but his smile was replaced with a frown and a hiss escaped him when he flexed the fingers on his hand to take off his shirt.

Dinah's own mood dampened when he heard the sound of pain from Ollie and she immediately stood up to check on him. The blonde woman came up behind the man and looked over his shoulder to see that he was gingerly prodding at his right hand, which had a thick set of bandages wrapped around the knuckles.

"What happened?" She asked, immediately moving to grab at his hand and hold it between her own.

She felt Ollie flinch at her touch and became worried, but decided to survey the damage to his hand before she tried to survey his mental state. Carefully she unbandaged the knuckles and moved the bruised appendage from side to side, making sure to look through all the damage. With a sigh, she looked up at Ollie.

"How did this happen?" The woman asked once more, this time her voice hardening and adopting an edge that meant she wanted answers.

Oliver knew that tone very well. He had heard it aimed at many villains and robbers before. Heck, he'd even heard it directed at him a few times before. But just because he was accustomed to hearing it did not meant he was a bit shaken by it. It was so authoritarian. It kind of reminded him of...

With a shake of his head, Oliver smiled down at Dinah, "I found myself in a small fight with the League, Dinah." He lied smoothly, all the while trying to push the thoughts of _him_ to the back of his mind, "Injuries are a part of our line of work."

The look Dinah gave him was a mix of doubt and exasperation. He didn't know how she managed it, but if anyone could show two different emotions at the same time, it was his little Song Bird.

"You are a child. You might have broken a few knuckles." She chastised him with a shake of her own head, "If this happened on League time, why didn't you go to Fate or Tornado so they could help and fix you up?"

His right hand was still in Dinah's hand, gripped tightly yet gently, so the blonde raised his left to scratch at the back of his head. What could he tell her? He certainly couldn't tell her the truth because then she'd ask just what in the holy hell had possessed him to punch his shower's tile. But he also couldn't come up with some dumb lie about not needing any help from the League because at least two of his knuckles were, in fact, broken.

"Uh..." He stuttered for a moment, then asked, "Is it really that important to get medical attention? It's just a scratch."

Angered blue eyes bore into Ollie's own and he knew right then and there that Dinah was not about to take this newest injury lightly.

"Just a scratch? Just a _scratch_?! Oliver Queen, just how ignorant are you?" The woman's rage burned clearly in her eyes and Ollie swore she was about to hit him upside the head, like she would when he was being incredibly stupid. "Like I said, you may have broken a few knuckles. That means you've been in pain for at least a few hours, seeing how that fight with the League was a few hours ago!"

"Oh, you're making too much of a fuss." Oliver tried to remain calm and not show just how truly frustrated he was becoming with Dinah insisting, but this only managed to enrage her further.

For a beat, neither of them spoke. Dinah glared heatedly at Ollie as the man looked at anything that wasn't her.

He couldn't do this. Not if she was going to get so overexcited over a simple injury. He couldn't face her worry if all he would do was lie and try to cover up the truth.

"Oliver Queen, you and I are going to go up to the Watchtower this very minute to get you the medical attention you need!" Dinah commanded as her blue eyes narrowed dangerously, posture becoming tense and alert. "I don't care anymore for this male pride of yours or how it might wound you to ask for help. We are going and that is the end of it!"

Dinah didn't know the truth... She didn't know how truly hurt Ollie was. She didn't know of all of the bruises that littered his body and she didn't know of all the mental torture he had been under recently...

Ollie had to remind himself of all of this as his anger began to bubble up inside of him.

It wasn't her fault that he was keeping her in the dark! And if he truly wanted to make things work, he'd either have to work harder to keep his secrets hidden... Or hope that neither the Martian nor Fate were on the Watchtower when she dragged him up there.

"Dinah, listen to me and listen to me good." Ollie spoke in an authoritative tone he barely ever used, hoping she would listen to him now that he was not kidding. "I am fine. My knuckles, they don't hurt. And there's no way in hell you're going to get me to go up to the Watchtower so you better stop trying to force me. Now, do you still want to go out? Or would you rather leave in a huff?"

Internally wincing at his last question, Ollie knew he had gone a bit too far. He could have stopped talking when he asked if she still wanted to go out. He didn't have to make reference to all of the other times when Dinah had left him before a date just because she had grown too angered with him.

And he knew he had gone too far by the way her light blue eyes filled with both anger and hurt.

"Are you serious right now, Oliver?" She bit out with narrowed eyes, taking a step away from him while allowing his hand to drop. "All I'm trying to do is show how much I- You know what? Whatever. Do whatever you want, Oliver Queen. I don't care anymore."

She turned around right then in a huff and began to stalk out of the room, leaving Oliver Queen staring after her, dumbfounded.

Had he really just driven her away after he had asked her out on a date?

This whole deal with Slade was messing with his head... Just how was he going to fix this now?

Moving fast, the man wrapped his knuckles and fingers up in bandages, essentially splinting them together , only to wince at the pain that sprouted from the injury. Maybe she was right in him needing medical attention...

After he had bandaged his knuckles, the blonde ran out of his room and after Dinah, calling after her.

"Dinah, wait, please!" He shouted as he bounded down the stairs, the blonde woman in his sights. "Please don't leave me like this!"

Truth be told, he was surprised when she turned around to face him. He had fully expected her to continue ignoring him. But when she turned, she had her arms crossed over her chest and her faced pulled into a pissed off look that let him know immediately he had been a complete idiot. He ran up to her and moved to place his hands on either of her shoulders, but she merely brushed him off and glared darkly.

He knew he had messed up... _Again_. But he couldn't allow Dinah to just walk out on him. He loved her too much to see her leave... Even though Slade had fucked him over royally, Ollie could not allow the mind games played on him to get the better of him.

"I'm sorry, Dinah. I shouldn't have lashed out at you." He apologized, eyes wide as he looked down at the most wonderful woman in the world. "You're right. I should take better care of myself. But this is a small wound, nothing really. I'm not too hurt and I know how to take care of the injury without making it worse." He spoke softly, soothingly, trying to calm her anger. "I don't want you to give up on me because of my stubbornness."

After he had spoken, Dinah said nothing. Instead she glared down at the floor while her hands tightened around her grasped arms. This made Ollie smile. Her resolve was faltering. And they both knew it.

When Dinah looked up at Ollie, she uncrossed her arms and poked him sharply in the chest, "The next time I tell you you have to go to the hospital, you _will go_." Her voice was steely, a thousand threats of much pain hidden in its depths, but then she sighed, "But... I guess you have suffered broken knuckles before..." Then she brought her hand up to her face, rubbing softly, "I've just been so stressed lately. Because of _you_."

"I know, Pretty Bird. And I'm sorry." Ollie breathed out his apology, then smiled down at her, "But... Come on... I'm the best headache you've ever had."

Dinah scoffed and rolled her eyes at this, but soon shook her head and smiled softly up at him.

"Come on. You promised me food. And I'm feeling like going out for a good brunch." She pushed him towards the door, but Ollie only turned around with a shake of his head.

"I know what I said but... I can't really go out there in pajamas, now can I?" He smirked at her, then hissed in good humor when she smacked his arm.

"Well then get moving, Oliver! It's already too late for breakfast but too early for lunch! Now let's go and get dressed properly and get some food."

"Sounds like a plan, Pretty Bird." Oliver smiled as he turned around, grabbing her hand in his own uninjured one to pull her up to his bedroom.

But even with how they had managed to lighten the mood, Oliver knew that he couldn't risk any more unsubstantiated outbursts. Even if Dinah had forgiven him two times now, he knew there would be no possibility of there being a third time. Besides, she didn't deserve to have him snapping at her whenever his thoughts became too much. She deserved to be treated like the princess she truly was.

Even though Slade had fucked him over royally and was going to continue playing horrible mind games, Ollie had to keep the facade of being alright. If not for the sake of his family members, then for his own. He couldn't live with them knowing what he had done... So he'd keep it a secret.

It was that simple.

Besides, with Dinah being the wonderful woman she was, he doubted Slade would ever find a way to pervert her or whatever she did.


	9. Chapter 9

Dinah asked to go to a little shop in the nicer side of Star. It was a place that held a bit of emotional value to them both; seeing how this was the location where their second date had taken place.

The affluent part of Star was beautiful, yet worrying. Dinah loved it because it helped remind her that even though there were bad people in the world, there were just as many good people. Some of the shop owners here were swindlers and liars, the kind that valued price over sales. But some were also the kind that helped those that needed it, like the owner of the shop Dinah loved enough to actually make a point of going to whenever she had the chance.

When they'd gone on their second date, Ollie had thought himself prepared for anything. He had dressed up nicely, had made sure that every single mechanism in his car was perfect and finely tuned, and that he had picked out the best restaurant that would serve them efficiently and give them delicious food; the price had not mattered to him, all he had wanted had been for the night to be memorable. He had been so sure that everything would have worked out perfectly that he had not, in his excitement, made sure that his wallet had been in his pocket. He had just made sure that he had money within his wallet.

This had led him to forget his wallet at his house. A complete blunder, he was aware. But it had been a blunder that had opened a great door for them.

Fortunately enough, Dinah had asked him to pull out his license for one meaningless reason or another (he was sure it had been because they'd been talking about how tall he was and she could not believe he was a solid six feet, for some reason she had thought he was shorter). It was as he'd stuck his hand inside of his pocket, all the while his left stayed on the wheel and his foot on the accelerator, that he'd found out that he had not, in fact, had his wallet.

They had managed to avoid quite the disaster by Dinah having demanded to see his license. And, because Dinah offered to pay for the food so Ollie would not have to drive all the way back to his home to recover his wallet, they had gone to the little café nestled in between two different clothing stores.

The owner was kind and curious, she'd asked why they were dressed up so nicely if they were entering her shop, and the food had been delicious.

After that night, Dinah had made it a point to visit the café at least once a month to buy coffee and catch up with the owner. Ollie, in turn, tagged along whenever he could to show that he too enjoyed going to the little place. He may not be able to share in wanting a friendship with the shop owner, but he sure as hell could accompany his partner in something she well and truly cared for.

Today, the shop looked as beautiful as it had the first time they had gone inside. There was rain falling around them and this made the sky much darker, which in turn gave the shop a colder atmosphere, but that did not bother either of them. As long as they were able to get inside to hide from the rain, neither would mind the more detached ambiance that always loomed over people whenever the sky poured.

With his knuckles bandaged up, a couple of pain killers in his system, and lots of hope within him, Oliver pulled out Dinah's chair out and smiled at her as she sat down. Then, once she was comfortably seated, he pushed her towards the table and made his way towards his own chair.

The shop was a comfortable one with cream walls, brown furniture, and décor that reminded Oliver a little bit of a little Parisian coffee shop he had once visited. Its atmosphere was mostly warm and comfortable, except for when the minute rainy chill entered through the door. The walls that were on either side of the front door were actually large windows that allowed for the customers to see outside of the shop whenever they wished to.

Through these walls, Ollie and Dinah were able to see the rain intensifying and people beginning to scamper around so they could get out of the drizzle.

"We got lucky… We didn't need an umbrella to get here." Dinah smiled at him, which made Ollie nod in agreement, then they both turned to look over at the large menu over the counter by the back of the shop.

Normally, Ollie liked to buy something new whenever he came in here. The food here was good, although sometimes too sweet for his tastes, and he liked trying new things in most of the places he went. Dinah, though, always chose the same combo.

For once, Ollie didn't feel like being adventurous, though. He wanted to eat something he had bought before and he wanted to feel the happiness he knew only his girlfriend could bring him.

"The usual, right?" He asked his girlfriend, only to receive a nod in return. "I'll be right back."

~/ ~

When he and Dinah had been halfway through eating their food, Dinah decided to comment on his simple ham and cheese sandwich.

"No crazy flavors today, Queen? What, have you lost your edge?" She goaded good naturedly, all the while swirling her pasta around with her fork.

"Not at all, Pretty Bird." Ollie smiled back, "Just decided to go for some good ol' wholesome ham and cheese today. There's nothing wrong with going for a classic, you know."

"Oh, not at all." Dinah rolled her beautiful blue eyes, although there was a soft and amused smile playing on her lips. "Beautiful weather we're having."

With an equally crooked smile, Oliver glanced over his shoulder, prepared to take in the pounding rain and make quite the astute comment.

The sarcastic words died within his throat as soon as his light blue eyes met with one pale eye.

It couldn't be.

That eye could not belong to the person he was thinking.

He _couldn't_ be here!

Ollie's breathing sped up and he lost all of the calm he had managed to acquire over the handful of hours spent with Dinah.

He wanted to look away. Oliver didn't want to look into that one overly intelligent, _unbelievably smug_ eye. But he couldn't tear his eyes away.

What was he doing here? How had he found him? _Why_ had he even come around?

Slowly, Ollie found the willpower to force his eyes away from that one eye. But instead of forcing his body to turn around and look back at Dinah, to ignore the man's very presence, his eyes instead decided to drift down and look at his lips. And there, he was met with the bastard's insufferable smirk.

A flare of anger rose up within Ollie. How dare this man be so smug about appearing randomly? How could he be so obsessed with him that he was actually willing to follow him on dates? Why did he have to be so _obsessed_?!

That anger soon turned into anxiety, though. How had he even found him? How had he followed them? And, worse yet, how had Ollie not noticed how they had been followed?

"Oliver?"

Suppressing the shocked gasp that wanted to escape his lips, Ollie forced himself to turn back around and look at his girlfriend.

Dinah was looking at him through narrowed eyes, worry clearly etched into her features.

"Is everything alri-"

"Of course!" He replied before she had even finished her question, "Everything's peachy, Pretty Bird." With shaky hands, he grabbed the sandwich he had been eating and raised it up to his mouth, "How about that shop of yours? Everything alright? You haven't told me anything about it yet."

Dinah was looking at him in that way she had taken to doing so often. Her lips were slightly pursed, her eyebrows pulled in with worry, and her eyes were focused solely on him. It was a look that said 'What the hell is wrong with you? And why the hell aren't you letting me help?'.

Taking a quick bite from his sandwich, the blonde tried his best to start up the conversation with his girlfriend. And after quite a few deflections (which had been more than he would have enjoyed), he managed to convince Dinah that everything was fine, nothing was wrong, and they could continue their little outing as normally as possible. After this, they were able to continue with their conversation as if he had never even seen that bastard's terrible smirk, even though Ollie was not able to ignore the small voice in the back of his head warning him that, whatever it was that Slade had been doing standing in the rain and in front of the large window, it couldn't have been anything good.

Not good for him… Not in the least bit.

~/~

From the little shop, they returned to his home.

Inside, after having taken a couple of steps into his mansion, Ollie decided that enough was enough. He would not allow some madman's plans to ruin his time with this wonderful woman. He _refused_ to allow his mind games to work any further.

"You know, we haven't had any time alone in a while."

"I'm more than aware of that, Ollie." Dinah's answer had more bite in it than the man would have liked, but he could understand it.

They had not been able to have any real time alone because of him. He knew that. And he knew that Dinah was one of the greatest women in this world to put up with his sorry ass for so long. He wasn't some big trophy- he was aware of that…

Wait a minute… Where had these thoughts come from?

"Why don't you go up on ahead and meet me in my room? I'll be up in a couple of minutes." He offered her, a tense smile making its way onto his lips as he desperately tried to seem as if he were unbothered by the sudden turn his thoughts had taken.

He had never been the kind for self-deprecation. Nor had he ever been too big on minimizing his own worth.

Sure, in his teenage years he had come across some of these thoughts… But _everyone_ went through that process in those years; that's why adolescence is such a horrible thing sometimes. He was older now though; much more mature. He knew what he was worth. Just like he knew what his limits were and what he excelled in.

He'd always known Dinah was beyond his league. She was smart and calculating where he tended to be impatient and a bit more dangerously curious. Convincing her to go out with him had been one of the longest, toughest, yet most worthwhile things he'd ever done in his life. It had taken him almost a year of knowing her to finally get her to go out with him… And as that year had passed, he had found himself falling deeper and deeper in love with the badass beauty that was Dinah Lance.

Even with everything that separated them, he had never allowed himself to despair over their berth of differences. Instead, he had chosen to see them as great gifts that could help them grow together, rather than tear them apart.

Never before had he allowed himself to wind up so down in the dumps that he saw himself as less than he actually was.

"Need to plan something out before you follow me into your room, Queen?" Dinah asked with a quirked eyebrow, a small smile playing on her lips.

Even with the humor that bled into her words, there was still a tenseness to them that left Ollie feeling like shit.

He had done this to his Pretty Bird. He had made her worry for no reason… Well, it was not just 'no reason' to him… But… She didn't know the truth. To her, he was being unreasonable for no reason.

He had to try better. Dinah deserved only the best.

"Oh, I just need a game plan to cement my apology strategy." He answered, forcing himself to once again regain some of his cool and relaxed demeanor.

He was not feeling normal. Not by a mile. But he couldn't let Dinah find out just how off he was feeling. Not when he was finally able to try and bring some sense of normalcy back into their lives.

"Go on." He ushered her softly in the direction of the main stairs that led to the upper bedrooms. "I'll be there in a bit."

She continued to look at him through worried blue eyes before finally she nodded and began to make her way towards the upper floor of his home.

Once he had heard the door close behind her, letting him know that she was safely inside of his room and had no way of looking in on him, Ollie made his way towards his kitchen.

He needed a drink.

Dinah never liked it when he drank. She'd made that very clear at the beginning of their relationship. And he knew that Roy and Artemis thought of him as weak for taking some semblance of comfort from alcohol, even though they told him this flat out. But he could understand their disdain for the drink, seeing how they all had faced some pretty bad experiences regarding their own family members abusing of the substance.

That never stopped him from drinking it. He had just made a habit of trying to curb his habits to not cause them any unnecessary worry. And, for the whole time he had been with Dinah, this tactic had worked out.

Then Slade had come crashing into his life with a sledgehammer that had shattered any semblance of peace he had ever had.

When he reached his kitchen, his hopes had managed to lift a bit. He was about to have a romantic evening with the most beautiful woman in the world and there was nothing anyone could do to ruin that.

Then his eyes fell on a large envelope that had been left on his refrigerator, pinned by a magnetic red button that most certainly did not belong to him or any of the people that frequented his home. He had never been the kind to use magnets on his fridge. Artemis and Dinah had a knack for novelty magnets. And Roy only ever used on simple magnet he had gotten for free in some pizzeria that had closed a couple of months ago.

For a couple of seconds, he found that his body refused to work. His lungs did not allow oxygen to flow, his eyes remained fixed on the envelope before him, and his whole body was rooted in place… It was as if he had been left suspended in time.

One sudden thought had him moving at an almost speedster-like pace.

If Dinah came down here and saw that envelope, she would question where it had come from. And then it would be impossible to keep any secrets from her.

Ollie strode towards the envelope and ripped it off of his fridge as soon as his body actually allowed him to move. He glared down at the yellow paper; a heavy frown pulling at the corner of his lips as he took in the little ' _D'_ that decorated the upper left corner of the envelope.

It was clear who had left this in his home. Just like it was clear that he was supposed to open it.

But Ollie was much too busy freaking out over the fact that Deathstroke had somehow managed to break into his home without leaving a single trace of forced entrance other than the envelope.

... But he couldn't be surprised by this, now could? The bastard had left him a note in a similar, quiet, unobtrusive manner not more than twenty four hours ago.

His life had gone to hell.

Ollie breathed in deeply to try and prepare himself for the newest shock he would be forced to suffer because of Slade once again... Would he want to meet up yet again? Would he want him to wire him money or something along those lines? What kind of deranged demands could the man have _now?_

There was more than one paper inside of the envelope. And Ollie's heart crashed into the pit his stomach had become as soon as he connected the contents of some of those papers to what they meant.

They were pictures of his family.

Roy, dressed in a dark jacket with groceries in his hands as he walked down a shadier side of Star City, undoubtedly going back to that dump he called an apartment after he had gone shopping.

Artemis smiling broadly with Wally and Zatanna on either of her side, shopping bags hanging from her forearms.

Dinah closing up her shop, a heavy frown tugging at her beautiful lips as she looked intently down at the lock she was working on to close up her shop.

Red Arrow and Artemis working together to stop a bank heist.

Black Canary tying up some thugs she had undoubtedly knocked out after they had tried to steal something.

All of these pictures were taken by a professional camera. They had not been taken by surveillance cameras... They had not been captured on some phone and then given to a TV station or newspaper to run a story... The lighting, the angles of the faces captured, the steadiness of the image… The technique that must have been used to take these pictures without having been seen... It all pointed to _one_ person.

The final paper in the envelope was a simple piece of paper with handwriting on it.

_Slade's handwriting_ _, he corrected himself._

_'Interesting family you have.'_ Panic gripped Ollie's heart as soon as he had managed to read the first sentence. _'I wonder what would happen if someone managed to connect their secret identities to their super hero personas?'_

Slade knew his own secret identity... Why in the world had he never even thought that he would connect the dots to the rest of his family? ... He was a fool... He was an idiot and now his family was in danger.

How could he have been so stupid? How could he have allowed himself to try and enjoy an evening with Dinah if he _knew_ Slade was still on his ass?!

_'I'm not big on sharing, Queen. But in a relationship like ours, I know that I cannot expect you to give everything up for me. And I'm not an unreasonable man, even though you might think I am.'_

Oliver glared down at the paper in his hands, bile rising within his throat as he read the incredulously deranged words.

 _Relationship_? What kind of relationship did the mercenary think they had? Because it sure as hell wasn't a good one. And it sure as hell wasn't a consensual one… They did have some kind of relationship, Ollie couldn't deny that… But he desperately wished that they had never even met.

Tears stung at his eyes as he continued to read the paper... Even though he wanted nothing more than to rip these pictures and paper to shreds, he knew that he couldn't do that. Slade undoubtedly wanted something more out of him. He was not finished with him yet... And, quite frankly, it felt like the deranged mercenary would _never_ be done with him...

_'I understand that you wish to stay with your little songbird. And I can even respect that. But, think about it: Do you really want to put her through this scandal? Do you really want this woman to go through the heartache of finding out her boyfriend is gay and found a new lover to cheat on her with? Because, quite frankly, I don't give a damn about any of these scenarios. I'm not petty, I don't play high school games. What I do play at is life and death. And if you don't leave your little bird, the whole world will find out who Roy Harper, Artemis Crock, and Dinah Lance truly are._

_Make the right choice, princess._

_~D'_

Oliver glared down at the piece of paper, suddenly feeling so hollow he did not even feel the tears that began to stream down his eyes until they landed on the paper clutched in his hands.

Everything was so cold.

So fucking cold.

He closed his eyes and turned his head up to the sky, breathing in deeply.

His body moved without his permission. It moved towards his cabinet of good alcohol without him even noticing it.

He only noticed that he had moved when the amber liquid was burning a trail down his throat that helped chase away some of the freezing cold that had overcome his whole body.

Hours later, Ollie found himself bruised, battered, and alone. The silence that hung over him was heavy. But it was made particularly worse after the explosive shouts he'd been forced to weather from Dinah.

She had wanted an actual explanation for their break up. All Ollie had managed to come up with had been a numb "Leave."

He was well and truly alone now. Dinah was out of his life for good, he'd done his best to break all ties with her to protect her. And the compensation he had received for caring so much had been to receive the worst insults the woman had been able to come up with.

They had hurt… But they did not hurt nearly as much as his own choices.

This was all his fault… Somehow, somewhere along his life, he had done something _real bad_ to piss off the wrong person… And now he was paying for his past stupidity.

He didn't deserve anyone.

He couldn't have anyone in his life. Not with Slade being so insistent on controlling him.

Darkness loomed over his frame as he stalwartly stood by the window of his room, staring into the nothingness that came from zero light. His hands clutched at the pictures of Dinah that had been taken by Slade, unable to let go of them, even though he had forced her out of his life.

He was well and truly alone.

His solitary state did not last long enough.

..~..~..

I have finally updated this! It's been too long a while, but I'm planning to stick around until I finish this to its fullest!


	10. Chapter 10

The bastard entered his room as if he were walking into a place he deserved to be inside. There was no knock to ask for entry. There was no hesitation at the threshold. The bastard mercenary just waltzed into Ollie's room with all of the ease in the world.

He didn't even announce his entry. He just made his way towards the far end of Oliver's room, where there was a sturdy desk that had a laptop, a couple of family pictures, and a light mark where there had once been a vase that had held flowers.

Dinah had thrown that vase at the ground in a spurt of anger she had immediately regretted a couple of hours ago… But she hadn't made a single move to pick anything up. The flowers and shattered ceramic lay on the ground where they had initially been left to suffer. They were ignored by Ollie mostly. But the very sight of them made him remember sky blue eyes rimmed with alarming red.

He didn't deserve Dinah… Not anymore.

For what felt like a lifetime, Slade merely stalked around Ollie's room; much like a cat would stake out its surroundings while ensuring the maximum success while hunting a cornered rat. Like the hunter he was, Slade slinked around with a critical eye towards everything that could be used against him in a fight, just like he looked out for things he himself could use against Ollie.

It wasn't like Ollie would even try to put up a fight. His body was still reeling from all of the pain it had suffered at the hands of the bastard not more than a week ago. Just like his hand was still forcing him to regret everything he had ever decided to do in his life because broken knuckles were a fucking _bitch._ But, honestly, all of that physical pain… It was nothing when compared to everything that was hurting him inside of his mind.

Dinah had been his soulmate; his only love. She was supposed to have been the woman to change him for the better and make him continue becoming a better person. She was supposed to have been the woman he would marry and start a true family with. She was supposed to have been the woman he would grow old beside. She was supposed to have been the woman he would always be faithful to, no matter how many times he was tempted to fall.

"I'm guessing you took my threat seriously."

The right corner of Ollie's lips lifted just slightly in a restrained sneer. But the blonde merely kept his gaze forward, making a point of keeping quiet.

Slade _wanted_ to push his buttons. The bastard wanted to make him suffer. Ollie couldn't understand _why_ the guy wanted to hurt him like this. He just knew that the son of a bitch was just out to make him feel as much pain as was humanly possible.

"I've got to say, I was expecting a bit more bite out of you… This isn't really the Oliver Queen I've gotten to know over the few days we've spent together."

Slade's heavy boots crunched minutely over the broken vase as he made a point of stepping over its fragments. And Oliver soon felt his presence coming much too close to him, only a handful of steps away from him…

He didn't want Slade near.

He didn't want _anyone_ close to him.

Not anymore.

Still, he remained glaring forward, keeping his gaze on the darkness in front of him.

The silence, the slowness of the movements, the softness of his voice… Everything Slade had done until then, the peaceful environment he had allowed to form… It left Oliver thinking that the mercenary would continue using his silent, cunning, and extremely strategic way of thinking to continue breaking him down. He expected scathing words about how this was the best decision he could have ever taken to keep his family happy. He expected a condescending yet soft tone that would cut through his heart like a poisoned tipped dagger.

He had _not_ been expecting the hand that suddenly latched itself onto his hair, forcing him to move in the direction it was tugging to try and keep searing pain from exploding from his scalp.

"Hey!"

"I don't appreciate being ignored, Queen."

Suddenly Slade's frowning face filled Oliver's vision.

And white hot rage filled the younger male.

"And I don't appreciate getting fucked over and being blackmailed." He spat out with a glare directly into Slade's gray eye, making the older man's already heavy frown deepen even further. "But we can't seem to really get things we appreciate nowadays, now can we?"

For five full heartbeats, Slade remained quiet. He merely glared into Ollie's own scathing blue eyes, a deceptively blank look on his face.

Just like with the sudden grab to his head, Oliver never saw the flying knee coming. All he could do was cough as all of the air in his lungs was kneed out, forcing him to bend forward in a limp attempt to soften the harsh blow.

"I don't appreciate this mouth, Queen." The man's hand was in his hair again, his grip so tight that Oliver could _feel_ the hair getting ripped out of his scalp. "Remember who holds all the cards here. Remember whose millionaire reputation is at stake. Remember whose team would be completely scandalized if they were to find out that he's been lying in the same bed as a contract killer."

With the bastard's inhuman strength, Slade forced Oliver's head up, up, up; until their eyes were completely leveled, the tips of the blonde's toes clutching to try and catch some floor.

Both men were tall. But Slade was tall enough to make Oliver have to look up at him whenever they spoke. So now, to be completely level with his own eyes… Ollie wasn't tall enough to look him directly in the eyes normally. He was being forced to keep his balance while trying to keep from hissing out in pain at the hand entangled in his hair.

"You're under my control, you little _shit_." Slade snarled directly in his face, a scathing smirk forming on his lips as a devious glint filled his eyes. "And I think I should remind you."

Oliver's eyes widened immediately, mind working fast to catch up with the meaning of the man's words. And as soon as he connected the words with what they promised, his body began to move of his own accord.

His right foot slammed into Slade's shin, causing the man's grip to loosen on his head enough for Oliver to break free from him. As soon as his feet his with solid ground, Oliver made a mad dash for his door, escape the only thought that was clear in his mind.

He hadn't even made to the door before a sharp, shooting pain burst from his calf, causing him to scream out as he fell to the floor.

"It's an interesting thing, Queen, how your ex-lover has condemned you to your fate without ever having a hope to find out about it." The man's chuckle was dark, but Oliver didn't give a damn about that.

What the _fuck_ had Slade hit him with?!

Hissing out his pain, Ollie rolled his body so he was sitting up. He made a point of ignoring all of the pain that ran through his leg as he brought it up to his chest, only looking for one thing: to be able to see what in the world Slade had used to hurt him.

As soon as his eyes caught a glint of baby blue, his heart dropped.

It was a shard of the vase Dinah had broken…

He didn't notice anything other than the shard in his leg and the blood that dripped from it. His vision blurred until it could only focus on _that_. All he could do was stare with wide eyed disappointment, much too caught off guard by what his girlfriend had unwillingly and unwittingly done to him without even being in the room with him and Slade.

"That Dinah has quite the temper. Nothing like mine, as you know. I prefer a much more _precise_ chaos."

The words that filled his ears were humored, but Ollie could hear the underlying frustration within them.

Slade had not expected him to fight back.

He should have tried harder.

He _would_ try harder.

The blonde tore his gaze away from his injury to sneer at the older man, a sick knot forming in his stomach when he noticed how close he had gotten. The mercenary was only a couple of steps away from him, an infuriatingly proud smirk on his lips as his only eye looked over his handiwork.

He refused to look anywhere near the man's waist. There was only one possible outcome to getting injured by Slade in his room… And the man's intentions were clear in his only eye.

He _fucking hated_ Slade's eye.

"You look good like this." Slade's smirk only became more confident as he crouched down when he was right in front of Ollie, just arm's length away from touching him. "I wonder how much better you'd look without your clothes on."

Oliver took a second to breathe in and close his eyes.

Then all he knew was the very pain he had come to expect from the bastard that had done everything in his power to turn his life into a living hell.

* * *

When Ollie woke up, it was to find the most sickening taste in his mouth. He ran into his bathroom without even trying to figure out where Slade had gone, intent on doing one thing and one thing only.

Never before would he have thought he'd actually be grateful of throwing up… But the taste of vomit in his mouth was an improvement to the taste Slade's semen had left.

This is what his life had become… How the fuck had his life taken such a downward plummet so suddenly?

The few contents that had been in his stomach were quickly wretched out in an attempt to purge himself of the reality he desperately wanted and needed to not be his own. But even once he was sure that there was nothing left for him to get rid of, Ollie stayed near the toilet, dry heaving in a desperate attempt to forget and try and clean himself to _some degree._

Slade's hands were all over him.

They were traveling up his sides, digging so harshly into his flesh that they left bright red streaks in their wake.

They were on his wrists, holding the still healing flesh so tightly that what had managed to heal was, once again, bloodied and torn. They bruised his wrists, kept them down and against his floor to keep him from fighting back.

They were on his throat, squeezing hard enough to cut his breath off, but not choke him. They were working his jaw open and keeping it at just the right level of openness for his filthy, _disgusting cock_ to force its way into his mouth and fuck him until tears streamed from his eyes.

They were _inside of him_... Working him open just enough for Slade to not have to completely force himself inside... But not nearly enough to keep him from tearing from the sheer size of his member.

The blonde choked back a gasp as he closed his eyes tightly, tears threatening to spill as everything that Slade had done to him the past night hit him like a fucking mac truck.

He couldn't understand why one man would be so focused on him. He couldn't bring himself to even _try_ and understand just why in the world this insane mercenary. He didn't want to know. He didn't think he'd be able to stomach knowing just what went on in that deranged mind.

Like the past night, Slade slunk into his bathroom as he belonged.

Instead of remaining quiet, he spoke up as soon as he entered.

"I enjoy hurting you too much to tell you to stop struggling; I won't lie. But, if you were to _stop_ , I really would not have a reason to beat you down."

Oliver didn't even try to look at him. He merely kept his eyes focused on the porcelain white of his toilet lid. He did not want to look at the things that had once been in his stomach. But he could not make himself look away from the toilet. If he dared look, he risked having to face Slade's smirking, insufferable, completely _detestable_ face.

"I love seeing your blood smeared all over your naked, beaten body. The bruises that blossom all over your skin are beautiful flowers; purple, sick, and in bloom. And there's no greater join in my life than to fuck you so hard with my cock that even your inner walls begin to bleed."

When his hands fell on Ollie's shoulder, it felt like thunder boomed in his ears.

The grip was not as tight as the night before. But it still had enough force behind it to let Ollie know that Slade was not playing around. Everything he was saying, he meant. And he wanted to make sure Ollie understood this fact _explicitly._

"I'm in a nice mood today. If you don't fight back, I'll bandage you up and won't force you into anything today." His breath ghosted right beside the blonde's ear, so soft that it almost felt _caring_ for a second.

Ollie knew better than to believe a heartless sociopath like Slade could ever care about anyone that wasn't himself.

Still, he closed his eyes once and contemplated his choices.

If he were to try and go against Slade, then there was an extremely high possibility that he would get beaten up again. Even though it was just morning, even though they had just woken up, even though Slade had used him multiple times in the past night... There was a very loud in the front of his brain screaming at him that if he wasn't careful, Slade was going to have his way with him again. And, just like all the other times, there would be nothing he could do to stop him.

Instead, he could just do whatever Slade wanted. He could become pliant, give him everything he wanted and desired, save himself from the embarrassment and pain that came from getting his ass kicked.

The pain in his leg was numb, but it burned enough to remind him of what happened when he tried to get away.

That pain was enough for him to make a decision.

With bile rising up in his throat and disgust taking over his heart, Ollie hung his head and leaned into the mercenary's touch.

The dark chuckle that left the man's lips was not missed by him. And it ensured that the disgust he felt within only multiplied, letting Ollie know how truly despicable of a person he was. But he didn't try and say anything. He merely kept his mouth shut and allowed Slade to pull him up and away from the toilet.

Every single step he took sent a fresh new burst of pain up his leg and into his whole body. But that only made sense, seeing how Slade had made a point of twisting the broken fragment of the vase once he'd gotten Ollie onto the bed. It hurt, but, quite frankly... Oliver was thankful for this pain. It helped distract him from the pain that threatened to call his attention from his mouth and ass.

When he stood in the doorway to his room, he was met with quite a horrid sight.

His room looked like more than just _one_ fight had taken place inside. If anything, it looked like the sight of an attempted murder that had not been completely successful.

His carpet was a dark green color, but the crimson stain of blood was clear on it. as if that wasn't enough, there was a trail of blood that had seeped into it when Slade had dragged him from where he had first hit him with the vase.

He didn't even notice that he had tightened his jaw until Slade's fingers were on his skin, massaging minutely as a loose, much more humored chuckle left his mouth.

"Calm down, kid. Like I said, you behave, I don't assert my dominance."

His fingers were hot. But they weren't a comforting like Dinah's had been. Instead, they were like a raging wild fire, leaving a trail of fire wherever they touched his face.

"Now why don't you go and get bathed?" The man offered, turning Ollie around so he was facing into his bathroom once more. Luckily, he was spared having to look at Slade. "I'll get started on clean up... We can't really have this place looking like a disaster zone when Artemis is still supposed to be staying with you, now can we?"

"Don't say her name." Ollie hissed out before he could stop himself, only to immediately regret it when Slade's large hand grabbed onto his neck and tightened around him.

"I'll say whatever I damn well please, _princess_. I get that family's a touchy subject for you, but I don't give a fucking damn. You're an object I use whenever I want; you don't have a say in _anything_." After he'd said this, he shoved Oliver forward, sending him stumbling into the bathroom sink. His head didn't collide with the mirror by pure _luck_. "Now get the fuck in that shower before whatever's left of my good mood vanishes."

Oliver's hands held on tightly to the edge of the counter for what felt like an hour. He held on so tightly that pain sprouted up in the junctions, even more so in the hand that had most of its knuckles broken.

He forced himself to breathe in heavily, deeply... He forced his hammering heart to calm down before he suffered a panic attack. He forced himself to try and calm down so he could regain _some semblance_ of control.

How he longed to have some control of his life once more...

With a heavy frown, he unlatched his hands from the counter and began to make his way towards the shower. Just as he stepped inside the tub, he heard Slade call out, "If I don't heart the water running in ten seconds, I'm going in there and doing whatever the fuck I want with your body, princess."

Oliver Queen had never hated anyone as much as he hated Slade Wilson.

* * *

The mercenary was uncharacteristically gentle as he helped dress Ollie's wounds. His touch was basically nonexistent on the battered archer's body, flitting over his skin with a dexterity and border-line kindness that a bastard like him should never have been capable of displaying.

After he had bathed, Ollie had been forced to parade before the bastard so he could get a full analysis of his wounds. Which he'd known had been absolutely unnecessary... Slade had made a point of applying pressure on all of his wounds the past night. On his wrist, on his calf- _everywhere_ he had injured before, he'd made a point of injuring further.

When his eye had fallen on Ollie's bandaged hand, he'd actually been condescending enough to question where he'd gotten _that_ from, it certainly hadn't been him. Ollie had just glared and spit out, "League duties."

He wasn't about to tell him that he'd caused that indirectly. He was not about to let Slade know that he was so inside his head that Ollie had actually hurt himself because of the very _thought_ of him. He already had enough of an upper hand... He didn't need anything else to hold over his head.

Once he had been allowed to dress- which Slade had actually contemplated, the bastard... He'd wanted to force Ollie to walk around completely naked like some kind of _animal_ -, Slade had forced him to move down to the first floor so he could take proper care of all of his injuries.

Now that he was finished with everything, Oliver found himself seated on his couch, feeling so dirty that not even the scalding bath he had given himself felt like any kind of relief. The bastard was rummaging around his kitchen as if he belonged; as if he _owned_ the damn place; and Ollie could hear soft clanging and rustling as he looked for whatever it was that he wanted.

The prospect of food made by Slade was about as appetizing as eating razors coated in cat piss.

All he really wanted was a goddamn drink.

It's not like Dinah was around to tell him that he shouldn't be drinking alcohol. She wouldn't be around anymore, now that Slade had gotten what he wanted. And if Ollie got what he wanted, she would never even get close to him again. He couldn't let her get close to him again... He couldn't let her see what had happened to him. He wouldn't be able to stomach the pity.

He wasn't quite sure just how much time he spent seated on his couch. But, before he knew it, Slade was heading back towards him with a tray filled with food and two cups.

The fact that none of the things within that tray was glass or ceramic did not pass his perception. Just like he was able to see that while there were two forks, one was metallic and the other was plastic.

Slade didn't trust him to not try anything drastic... Smart man... But it wasn't like Ollie would try anything. He'd get nothing but even more bruises and injuries if he tried to fight back.

The mercenary made a point of sitting down right beside Oliver. And Ollie, repulsed by the close proximity to the sleazy jerk, tried to move away and get away from him. But as soon as he did, his iron grip found its way around his forearm and dragged him back so their bodies were touching side by side.

"It's nothing flashy. But it's food."

Oliver turned his glare onto the food he was being offered, huffed softly, but still grabbed the plate and plastic fork. He ate the eggs and bacon without even noticing their taste, just wishing to eat as quickly as possible to try and get away from the mercenary quicker.

Slade made a point of savoring his meal, though. And even though Oliver had finished in less than two minutes, he kept Ollie flushed to his side until he had finished his own food.

Oliver had no idea just what he was playing at.

But, if he was being honest... It was nice to not get beaten up.

"Tell me about your kids' schedules."

Ollie tensed immediately.

But he chose his words carefully, wishing to keep his battered body from any further injury.

"Don't you already know everything you need to know?"

"Basics." The mercenary grunted, and if Ollie heard a hint of pride in his voice, he chose to ignore it. "I know the girl is here temporarily. Just like I know the brat doesn't live with you because he lives on the shitty side of town."

Bile rose up in his throat, making Ollie feel like he could upchuck everything he had eaten... But he swallowed it down. He didn't look at Slade as he answered, though, sure that if he did... Well, the very _sight_ of the man made his stomach churn in anxiety.

"She comes and goes as she pleases. She stayed the night with the Team, though... Some team building exercise."

"Cute."

He had to force himself to stop the sneer before it manifested on his lips. Slade was such a condescending _prick_.

"He chooses to stay as far away as possible from here. He only ever comes around when he needs money, repairs, or has found yet another bone to pick with me."

He couldn't bring himself to say their names. It would be acknowledging a fact he was not yet ready to face... How could he face the fact that _Deathstroke_ knew his whole family's secret identities? How could he face the fact that it was because of _him_ that now one of the most insane and capable villains to ever live knew the most sensitive and dangerous information a hero could ever have?

"Sounds like a charming kid." Slade commented sarcastically, and for once Ollie allowed himself to see the humor in his words.

"He's... _Special_."

"Must be to put up with all of the shit he says." Slade left the tray of plates on the coffee table in front of them, taking his cup as he leaned back and threw his right arm around Ollie's shoulders. "I would've knocked his teeth out with just _half_ of the things I've heard from his mouth."

"Yeah, well you're not the nicest guy in the world..." Oliver sighed, forcing himself to not retract away from his grasp. "Why do you want to know their schedules?"

He took a sip of his drink before he answered, making a big show of being completely relaxed while in Ollie's company. "Need to know what days I'm able to crash here. Can't really stick around if there are wannabe capes running around, now can I?"

"You can't-"

"I will."

Oliver turned to him with wide, unrestrained in fear, eyes, "You're _Slade Wilson_. Oliver Queen can't be seen with a mercenary!"

The bastard had the gall to just give him a side smirk... He didn't even bother to look at him completely. "They won't be seen together. Oliver Queen and Mako Thomson, though, _will_."

Oliver couldn't stop himself from staring at him in complete disbelief and fear.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Slade finally looked him completely. And it was with the smile of a hunter that had completely trapped his prey.

"It'll be interesting to guard someone instead of try and kill them for once."

Ollie's heart _dropped._

~..~..~

I love torturing Ollie. I really do. 

Please remember to review!


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